Before I get into the usual stuff, two upcoming activities worth noting. First, on Saturday, November 7 (that’s tomorrow as I write this!), the San Mateo County Historical Association is having a grand opening celebration of its new gallery spaces. These include the all-new Taube Family Carriage House & Automobile Gallery; Lora Mundi, which is the relocated, restored, and renamed (to its original name) “steamboat gothic” style house that for years had been called Lathrop-Connor-Mansfield House; and the Hero Natural History Gallery. This event begins in Courthouse Square at 10 a.m. (I believe you get to the carriage house and Lora Mundi through the main museum), with the official ribbon-cutting taking place at 11 a.m. From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. there will be “hands-on history and creative fun for kids and families” spread out through four gallery spaces (the full schedule is here). This event is completely free and open to the public. Drop by any time after 10 a.m. on Saturday.

Second, on Sunday, November 8, Casa Circulo Cultural and the San Mateo County History Museum, in collaboration with the Redwood City Parks & Arts Foundation, are once again bringing their wonderful Día de las Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebration to Courthouse Square and the History Museum. There will be live entertainment, exhibitions, children’s activities, face painting and delicious traditional foods. Things get going around 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, and run until 8 p.m. The official welcome ceremony and procession will take place at 6 p.m.

Finally, a reminder (as if you didn’t know!) that by the time you read this the Zoppé Italian Family Circus will likely have held its first performance in its tent on the Main Library Parking lot at 1044 Middlefield Road. Performances will run through November 29, so you have plenty of time to plan a trip with your family and friends. Tickets are on sale now, and can be purchased online or at the door. For the full schedule of dates and performance times, see the online ticket purchase webpage.

One week ago, MidPen Housing submitted an all-new design for its proposed affordable housing development at 1580 Maple St. 1580 Maple is located at the end of the U-shaped section of Maple Street on the Bay side of Highway 101; it is essentially directly behind the Redwood City Police Department building (which is located on the other leg of the ‘U’, where Maple Street crosses over the freeway). For years the site was home to the Women’s Jail, after which it became the LifeMoves Maple Street Shelter, a transitional housing facility. Back then, the shelter consisted of three small one-story buildings plus a fenced rear yard where residents could enjoy the outdoors with some measure of privacy. Roughly two years after the County Navigation Center was constructed just steps away from the old shelter and residents were moved to the new facility, the old buildings were finally torn down. Today, all that remains are the concrete slabs that served as the foundations for the old facility:

(In the above picture, the somewhat distant building in the center is the new Navigation Center, while the building towards the right with the green roof is the back side of the police station. Highway 101 is directly behind where I was standing when I took the picture.)

The site is just shy of two acres in size, but it needs to accommodate the Blomquist Extension as well. When the Navigation Center was built, Blomquist was extended over the creek that parallels Maple Street, past the police station, and then alongside the Navigation Center, where it meets up with Maple Street. It then extends down the small hill that was created when the Navigation Center site and the adjacent townhouse project site were elevated to combat sea-level rise; Blomquist currently stops in front of the site with the address of 1580 Maple Street. That address will likely change, given that it’d now be located along Blomquist. But for that to happen, Blomquist Street needs to be extended a short way past the 1580 Maple Street project where it’ll then make a 90-degree bend to the north, paralleling Highway 101 and terminating (for now) at Redwood Creek. That 90-degree bend needs room, and that room will be taken from the 1580 Maple Street site, leaving the project’s developer with 1.52 acres.

Those were a lot of words to explain something that really could use a picture. Here is a drawing showing the project site, with the future bit of Blomquist Street curving around it:

The years-ago design for this project showed an L-shaped building that mirrored an L-shaped surface parking lot somewhat like the one in the above drawing, with two smaller buildings for various community services lying against the curve of Blomquist. In this new design, there is just one U-shaped building with the opening of the U facing northwards, towards Redwood Creek.

Some final notes on the site itself before I dive into the building: the area surrounding it to the north and west is the much larger site directly along Redwood Creek that has been approved for a 131-unit townhouse development (which has not started construction, and apparently won’t for another year or two). Known as 1548 Maple Street, that site was raised to combat sea-level rise. It would mostly have had the shape of a right triangle if it wasn’t for the 1580 Maple Street project’s site, which is located at what would have been the triangle’s 90-degree corner. Because that project’s site was raised while the site for 1580 Maple is not, today a gray block wall surrounds this new project’s site:

I can’t tell whether this new project is to be built at the current level, or whether 1580 Maple Street’s site will be raised up to the level of its immediate neighbor. That subject will undoubtedly be part of the project’s Environmental Impact Report (EIR) and will surely be discussed when the project goes before either the Redwood City Planning Commission or City Council for approval. I’ll be following that part of the discussion with interest, since the two adjoining project sites — 1548 Maple and the Navigation Center site — both were raised up significantly. For now, though, Blomquist Street drops down from that upper level to the project’s current level:

Moving on to the building itself, here’s a look at the newly proposed building’s layout:

In the above, the tan portions are residential units (the drawing just shows the ground floor). The pink areas are support spaces (lobby, learning center, community room, laundry room, and offices), while the blue/grey style=”font-size: 19px;”>bits are utility rooms.

The new building is slated to be four stories tall, and will contain 82 apartments: 46 one-bedroom, one-bath units, and 36 with two bedrooms and one bathroom. None of them will have in-unit washers and dryers, but there will be a community laundry room on the ground floor (the smaller pink space next to the community room). As for affordability, all except the one manager’s unit will be offered at Very Low (50% of the Area Median Income) and Low (80% AMI) affordability levels.

Coming down Blomquist Street, the new building should look something like this:

Note that the main entrance to the building is from the parking lot, and not directly from Blomquist.

This project for the most part looks to be a good one, and I’m pleased that between MidPen Housing, Redwood City, and San Mateo County, most if not all of the funds needed to construct it seem to be in place. I’m not ecstatic about the location, though: while it will be located among other housing — the Navigation Center, and the townhouse project, assuming that the latter is finally built — and close to what I expect will be a new public park (Redwood City still owns several acres along Maple Street upon which it hopes to, someday, build a waterfront/water-adjacent park), shopping and services are not within easy walking distance for most folks. At least there is a SamTrans bus stop in the area, although it is about two blocks from the site: at the corner of Maple and Blomquist streets, close to the entrance to the police station. That stop is serviced by route 270, which stops there once an hour on weekdays and Saturdays. There also appears to be a commuter shuttle that stops at the same bus stop, but that shuttle runs during commute hours on weekdays only. Of course, the project has plenty of parking — spaces for 89 vehicles and 49 bicycles — so residents will have the option to drive or cycle to downtown Redwood City or wherever they need to go.

This week I walked to 1580 Maple Street to take pictures. While on that side of the freeway, naturally I had to go by the former site of the Century Park 12 Theatres, where one large apartment building (out of two) and the very large Villa Sport Athletic Club are both well on the way to completion:

In this picture, the apartment building is the large dark structure in the distance, while the Athletic Club is the nearer bright green structure. That green material is simply the layer upon which the building’s exterior surfaces will be applied; it won’t actually be green… Right in the center of the image you can see a large number of metal bars — rebar — sticking up from some concrete: that will be one of the club’s two outdoor pools (there will also be two indoor pools). And in the foreground you can see forms for the sidewalk that will run along East Bayshore Road. That sidewalk is currently behind construction fencing; I’m looking forward to being able to actually walk along it!

The side of the apartment building facing Highway 101 is still covered with protective curtains, but those should come down soon. The rest of the building no longer has them; from the other side (which faces the Bay), the building now looks like this:

Back on the west side of Highway 101, I made my way down to the Broadway Village project, to check on the progress of the public outdoor areas (the three apartment buildings having been completed and actively being leased). Some areas are still fenced off, but the large main “lawn” — which, sadly, will be composed of artificial turf — is almost done:

Artificial turf is also being used in the fenced dog park, which should also be open to the general public:

As for the half of the site that will eventually hold three office buildings atop a yet-to-be-constructed second half of the project’s underground parking garage, it has mostly been cleaned up and is now sitting idle:

No walk around the city would be complete without a visit to ELCO Yards, of course, so I eventually made my way over there as well. I noted that the stand-alone restaurant building, along with the small café space in the building with the curvy glass walls, are both available for lease:

Since both are in or next to the two office buildings that have not yet been leased, I won’t be surprised if these spaces remain empty until the two buildings are full of employees who would patronize the restaurant and café, both of which will be open to the public as well. (The other two ELCO Yards office buildings have been leased, but they are still being fitted out for their new tenants, who likely won’t occupy them until sometime next year.)

I was more interested in the two ELCO Yards parcels where the two new apartment buildings are to be built. The site along El Camino Real is now the one with the most activity. There I watched steel I-beams being cut, beams that will be used to help form the outer walls of a two-level underground parking garage:

And I couldn’t help but notice the presence of two of the machines that will insert those I-beams into the ground, apparently by pounding them into place (which will be annoying for the folks living in the apartments directly across Maple Street from the site…):

That’s it for this week. But don’t forget about those weekend activities I began this post with. Personally, I’m looking forward to both.