Affording Redwood City

The first will be located at 1580 Maple St., behind the Redwood City Police Station. This project, which will be constructed on city-owned land, is slated to contain 77 for-rent apartments affordable at a variety of income levels, all quite low. As currently proposed (the details are subject to change), more than a third of the affordable units would be for those earning no more than 20% of San Mateo County’s median income (AMI). An equal amount would be for those earning no more than 30% AMI, while the remainder — 21 units — would be for those earning no more than 40% AMI. These income levels are uncharacteristically low: Housing projects in our area have typically set limits ranging from 50% to 80% for their affordable units. Although numbers vary depending on household size — the proposed building would include apartments ranging in size from studios to units with three full bedrooms — based on the county’s numbers for 2026 a single person earning no more than $29,420 per year would qualify for one of the units with a 20% AMI limit, while a single person earning no more than $58,840 would qualify for an apartment designated for households earning under the 40% AMI limit.

Although updated plans have not yet been posted to Redwood City’s Development Projects website (the plans currently posted are for an earlier incarnation that had a total of 110 apartments), the design is likely to be somewhat similar to what was proposed back in 2023: an L-shaped multistory building separated from the adjacent property (slated to be developed with 131 townhouses) by surface parking. The project, which is coming from MidPen Housing, is expected to cost just over $69 million. Of that, MidPen has already secured land, loans and guarantees from San Mateo County and Redwood City totaling a bit more than $30 million. That seemingly is enough to get the project underway — although the project has yet to be approved by Redwood City.

The other project nearing its ground-breaking was approved by the city back in early 2023. Again, it is to be an affordable housing project, this one with 94 affordable apartments, one manager’s unit, and an internal parking garage in a seven-story high-rise at 1304 Middlefield Road. The apartments are slated to be a mix of studios, one-bedroom units and units with two bedrooms. The building’s first two floors will contain the 47-space parking garage along with the building’s lobby and mailroom, management offices, a “flex space,” an indoor bicycle storage room, and 10 apartments plus various utility spaces. Atop the first two floors will be two towers connected by bridges on each floor containing the building’s remaining apartments, community rooms (with kitchens), laundry rooms and computer labs.

Known as Rise City Apartments (it is to be built on an empty lot purchased by Sand Hill Property Company from Rise City Church, which is located directly across Middlefield Road), this project will serve those falling into a wider range of affordability levels: 20%, 50%, 60% and 70% of AMI. It is expected to cost just under $75 million, much of which had not yet been committed when the Redwood City Council conditionally approved $12.3 million in permanent loans to the project. But a construction permit has been applied for, so construction may get underway soon.

Affordable housing projects are expensive to build: Rise City Apartments will cost about $790,000 per unit, while MidPen Housing’s 1580 Maple Street project is expected to cost even more, at $873,000 per unit. The real trick in building a project like these is to obtain funding, which comes from a wide variety of sources. Thankfully, Redwood City has a variety of sources of its own — such as housing impact fees, which are paid by developers of commercial projects without a residential component — allowing the city to support much-needed affordable housing projects like these.