The next big thing

The Broadway Plaza project is located along Broadway between Chestnut Street and Woodside Road, and will ultimately consist of three office and three apartment buildings — although for now the developer is focused solely on the three apartment buildings. So far, the underground portion of the massive two-level parking garage that will underlie those three buildings has been built, and one of the three apartment buildings is gaining its third (of five) stories. The other two are a bit behind; the work crews are still actively building their ground-floor “podium” levels.

Two projects of this size in active development are a big deal for Redwood City. Last week, though, I learned those two are apparently not alone. At long last, nearly nine years after first being officially submitted to the city, the project to replace the long-shuttered Century Park 12 Theaters with apartments and a “sport club” seems to have begun. So far, work has been limited to demolishing a large portion of the surface parking lot, and, as of today, most of the large asphalt parking lot. The theater building will likely soon be demolished as well — although the necessary permit for that phase of the project has yet to be issued.

By demolishing the parking lot, the property owner lost a source of income; for years they’ve leased it to local automobile dealerships for storage of excess inventory. That intentional loss of income tells me that the site is ready for its next chapter, which surely is the proposed project. Bolstering my supposition is the fact that the only other permit issued (out of the eight or so needed for demolition and construction of the overall project) is one apparently enabling the raising of the site 3 feet above the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s base flood elevation, to protect it from flooding and sea-level rise.

Ultimately, the developer — SyRES Properties — intends to construct 480 for-rent apartments and a large athletic club and spa on its 14.36-acre parcel. The apartments will be located in two five-story buildings set on the eastern edge of the property, giving many of the apartments a view of Bair Island and the Bay waters. The apartments themselves will wrap around internal multilevel parking garages that combined will accommodate 783 vehicles (614 of the spaces will be for those living in the apartments; the rest, along with 307 surface parking spaces, will be for the athletic club). The 480 apartments will range in size from studios to two-bedroom units, and 85 of them will be leased at affordable rates for folks earning at a range of specified income levels (very low, low and moderate). Amenities exclusive to the apartment dwellers include a community pool, spa, club room, barbecue area and fitness facility.

Turning to the project’s “VillaSport” athletic club and spa, it will be big — about 97,000 square feet in size — and open to the public. Its two outdoor pools and outdoor café will be located between the two-story club building and East Bayshore Road. Inside, the club will contain two additional swimming pools; a large gym with a host of workout equipment; a regulation basketball court; exercise studios; a day spa with whirlpools, saunas and steam rooms; locker rooms; and a large indoor café. Finally, on the end of the building away from the street there will be a good-sized indoor/outdoor play area for children, with child care and programs and camps available for kids.

Many property developers are finding the current economic environment to be pretty challenging at the moment, but with this particular project at least, SyRES Properties may have found a way to surmount those challenges. Our area’s supply of available housing stock remains very low, and prices continue to rise, signaling that there is still demand for housing. More housing means more residents and, thus, more demand for gyms and sport clubs like the one that is part of this project. Combined, that demand is apparently sufficient to justify the project costs — assuming this project is indeed going ahead, as it so appears. Which means longer walks for me. Soon I’ll have to pay regular, if not weekly, visits to the Century Park 12 Theaters site in addition to ELCO Yards and Broadway Plaza.

Greg Wilson is the creator of Walking Redwood City, a blog inspired by his walks throughout Redwood City and adjacent communities. He can be reached at greg@walkingRedwoodCity.com. Follow Greg on Twitter @walkingRWC.