On campus

Stanford’s property purchase in 2005 wasn’t limited to just the four buildings that became the nucleus of its medical center in Redwood City. At the same time the university purchased an additional 35 acres of the former Mid-Point Technology Center, most of which was just across Broadway. For a while the university used one or two of the old technology buildings to house a couple of nonacademic university functions, leaving the rest leased to a handful of outside companies. It wasn’t until late 2016 that demolition of most of the technology center finally got underway, followed by the construction of the four nonacademic campus buildings along Broadway, the supporting buildings and parking garages along Bay Road, and the lovely well-landscaped public open space that winds through the middle.

In early 2025, Stanford began work on its newest medical building: a nine-story medical office building and its accompanying parking structure that today are rapidly coming together adjacent to the existing medical center. When construction on this newest building began, Stanford only intended to build out a couple of the building’s floors, leaving the rest to be completed as Stanford identified a need. Although that still may be the case, Stanford now has even bigger plans for its Redwood City campus. Just last week a new preliminary project proposal appeared on Redwood City’s Development Projects webpage: a proposal by Stanford to add a dedicated cancer center to its Redwood City campus. This would be a large addition, one that would include “an inpatient cancer hospital, an academic research building, a clinical and outpatient building, infrastructure facilities and parking structures.”

Until now, Stanford Health Care buildings have been located on the freeway side of Broadway, with Stanford’s nonacademic campus buildings being relegated to the other side of the street. That clear division would no longer hold if Stanford’s new proposal proceeds as currently envisioned. The concept document available on the city’s website shows the academic research building and the building housing the cancer clinic on the medical side of Broadway, adjacent to the under-construction medical office building. The hospital, however, would be located across Broadway alongside the nonacademic campus buildings. Enclosed bridges spanning Broadway and the driveway running between the cancer center’s research and clinical buildings would connect the new buildings at their second floors, allowing patients and staff to move safely between buildings without having to navigate crosswalks.

For now, Stanford is simply presenting its concept and looking to gauge interest from both the community and the city’s leadership. Assuming that people seem to generally be in favor, Stanford will then ask the city to make alterations to both the 2013 Stanford in Redwood City Precise Plan and the city’s General Plan, alterations that will be necessary for the project to proceed. Among the changes needed are one to incorporate a 0.35-acre parcel along Douglas Avenue into the Precise Plan, one to allow for a hospital building taller than five stories, one to increase allowable square footage and one or more changes to design standards. Assuming the city agrees to those changes, only then will Stanford draw up and submit to the city more definitive plans that can be put through the city’s standard approval process.

All of this is going to take years, even if everything goes smoothly. Redwood City’s process for projects like these involve a thorough environmental review, and that could reveal downsides that will need to be addressed (for one, the added traffic this new clinic would undoubtedly generate would need to be given careful consideration). But that is what the process — which would have multiple opportunities for the public to give feedback — is for.

Barring any unsurmountable issues, though, I hope the project goes through. I admit to some bias — I just celebrated 10 years of being cancer free after having a fairly serious melanoma removed from my shoulder by the good folks at Stanford’s Melanoma Clinic — but I would think a cancer clinic with Stanford Medical’s name on it would be a real boost to Redwood City’s image.

Hopefully the city and the residents of the Friendly Acres neighborhood, where Stanford’s new development would be located, agree.