On Broadway

The work is phased. First came the stand-alone CVS and the underground portion of the garage beneath the three residential buildings at the Chestnut Street end of the property.

Phase two should wrap up early next year, with leasing of the apartments and retail spaces along with the opening of the child care center. Today, those three buildings are in various stages of completion — one nearly done, one getting its final exterior finishes, and one just beginning exterior work.

Once they’re completed and leasing, the final phase — starting with the remaining half of the underground garage and followed by the three office buildings — will be free to begin.

Focusing on the three residential buildings: The 120 apartments in the five-story building that fronts primarily onto Chestnut Street will all be affordable, while the 400 apartments across two six-story buildings (one fronting Broadway, the other facing Bay Road) will lease at market rates. In terms of size, the affordable building will offer studios up to three-bedrooms, while the market-rate buildings will have a handful of studios (20 total) and the rest one- or two-bedrooms.

In the all-affordable building, 12 units will be reserved for households at the Extremely Low level — at or below 30% of the county’s area median income. Another 12 will be for those at the Very Low level (between 30% and 50% of AMI), while 95 will be for households earning between 50% and 80% of AMI. (That totals 119; there is also one manager’s unit.)

The affordable building is the farthest along, with its center courtyard largely landscaped. When I walked by this week, crews were actively working on the sidewalk and landscaping out front — usually one of the last tasks on a major project.

Except for missing exterior surfacing around the child care center space, the market-rate building along Broadway looks nearly done from the sidewalk, with landscaping and sidewalks still to come.

There’s still plenty to finish inside its apartments, the child care center that opens to the interior of the site, and the retail spaces facing Broadway.

As an option for downsizers, the buildings are attractive and appear to offer good space: In the market-rate buildings, a two-bedroom, two-bath unit should be around 1,100 square feet and include a small balcony. Comparable units in the affordable building will be smaller. We won’t know pricing until the apartments hit the market, but the chance to secure an affordable unit makes this development appealing for those who can’t pay prevailing rates.

Many commuters will like the project’s proximity to the Highway 101/Woodside Road interchange, however, the Caltrain station is just over a mile away. The heart of downtown is about three-quarters of a mile from the site, so it’s not ideal for casual strolls to dining and entertainment. Then again, adding more than 500 apartments and new office workers near Woodside Road could help revitalize Broadway between Main and Chestnut streets and bring fresh options close to Broadway Plaza residents.