Two weeks ago I wrote about the many large projects currently underway along (and near to) Industrial Road in San Carlos. San Carlos has a lot going on, development-wise, at the moment, and, like Redwood City, the flood of projects doesn’t seem as if it will abate any time soon. Although the number of projects, and their size, is smaller than what Redwood City is facing, the project lists and sizes seem roughly proportionate given that San Carlos is smaller than Redwood City.

My earlier post dealt with projects that are currently under construction. This week, I spent some time exploring the sites of two projects that were both reviewed and advanced by San Carlos’ Planning and Transportation Commission during its June 7, 2023 meeting. The first is one I have some affection for, since a portion of the project site is home to a business that my wife worked at for many years (and thus where I spent many an hour, myself): San Carlos Garden Supply. She worked there back in the days when the business had a large nursery in addition to hardscaping materials; today the business seems entirely focused just on rock, brick, and other materials used in hardscaping. But the parcel upon which that business operates today is just part of what would be redeveloped by The Sobrato Organization for their 841 Old County Road project. In 2019 they secured seven parcels along Old County Road between Commercial Street and Bransten Road, giving them 3.41 acres upon which they hope to build two good-sized life-science office/lab buildings.

Going from south to north along Old County Road, today the first thing you come to is this:

This low, one-story building may not be occupied at present. At least, I could find no meaningful signage, and there were no cars or other signs of life when I was there.

Next, there is a small undeveloped lot behind a battered pair of driveway gates:

Finally, you come to Garden Supply, which appears to be very much still in business:

The three parcels currently occupied by San Carlos Garden Supply are deeper than the four parcels closer to Commercial Street; thus, the combined site is somewhat L-shaped. Because of this, the project architect designed one building to run along Old County Road, and another extending along Bransten Road, with a landscaped courtyard in-between:

Not shown in the above drawing is a glass bridge that would connect the two buildings on their third and fourth floors. But from this drawing it is plain to see that the developer plans to separate this development from the neighboring buildings with a rear alley connecting Bransten Road to Commercial Street, something that the fire department was very pleased to see. Access to the two-level underground parking garage (which would extend to the edges of the property, and thus would not only sit beneath the buildings but beneath the center courtyard and the back alley as well) would be from the back alley, with ramps going up and down from both buildings.

The south building — the one on the right in the above image — would be five stories in height, while the north building would be four stories. Both would be clad in brick and glass, making for an attractive pair:

The above rendering is shown from the corner of Old County Road and Commercial Street, looking to the northeast. Here is another view, showing more of the north building plus the center courtyard and the bridge between the two buildings. This view is also from Old County Road looking to the northeast:

Note the fencing partway back in the courtyard; the plan is to have gates there, so that — depending upon the wishes of the building’s tenants, presumably — the rear (larger) portion of the courtyard could be reserved for the folks working in the building, while the front part — where the trees with the white blossoms are shown — would be open to members of the public. Along those lines, if you look at the prior rendering, right at the corner of Old County Road and Commercial Street there would be both a small outdoor area for use by the public and a small cafe space. Given its location and the current makeup of the neighborhood, there is some doubt as to whether a cafe could be successful in this spot based on this new development alone. However, immediately across Commercial Street is the site of the proposed massive “Alexandria II” development, and further up Old County Road, just across Bransten Street, yet another life science project has been proposed. If either or both of those other projects are approved and built, there then may well be enough demand to support a cafe. But don’t be surprised if the cafe doesn’t open right away, assuming this project is built.

Sobrato is planning to develop this project in two phases, with the south building being constructed first, followed by the north building. That could change if the developer manages to pre-lease the entire project before construction gets too far along, but they are assuming that won’t happen. Indeed, they don’t even plan to build the first (southern) building unless and until they’ve managed to pre-lease it. Thus, even though this project is moving smoothly through the approval process, it may not be built for some years — if ever. The project’s development agreement simply requires that the project, once started, be completed within 10 years of the signing of the agreement. So it all hangs on how successful Sobrato is in pre-leasing their particular life science project in an area that is awash in a number of new and proposed life science buildings. If things go the way that Sobrato hopes (and assumes, it appears), though, they’ll build the southern building (and half of the underground garage, and half of the center courtyard) while leaving the three Garden Supply parcels essentially untouched for some time.

Going for this project is the fact that they are just 0.3 miles from the San Carlos Caltrain station: an easy walk. And at the corner of Commercial Street and Old County Road is a pedestrian/cyclist tunnel beneath the Caltrain tracks, a tunnel that comes out at El Camino Real and Arroyo Avenue. Thus, this site is excellent both from a mass-transit standpoint and from its close proximity to downtown San Carlos and its many restaurants, shops, and service businesses. Although the project’s underground garage is quite large — with room for 745 motor vehicles, 80 short-term bicycles, and 55 long-term bicycles (in total; these figures would all be smaller for just the first phase, of course) — there seems to be an excellent chance that a lot of people would commute to these buildings other than by car, which would be a big win for us all. Finally, Sobrato would be paying some significant impact fees to the City of San Carlos, and making some rather sizable community benefits payouts.

San Carlos is placing a big bet on becoming a hub for life science activity, and developers seem eager to take the city up on that bet. Neighboring cities — Redwood City being very much one of them — are watching with interest to see just how that bet works out. Sobrato’s project seems to be a great indicator of just how well things are going: if they can pre-lease their project, they’ll start construction, meaning that visible activity on the corner of Old County Road and Commercial Street will serve as a clear indicator that there continues to be demand for what San Carlos is hoping to supply.

With jobs comes more demand for housing, something that we all know is in short supply in our area. Thus, it was fitting that along with giving their thumbs-up to Sobrato’s 803-851 Old County Road project, the Planning and Transportation Commission also reviewed and expressed enthusiastic support for the Cherry Street Commons project, an affordable housing building proposed for three parcels on Cherry Street between Walnut and Laurel streets.

Interestingly, I have a connection to this site, too: the optometrist that my family and I regularly went to (who has since moved to another location within San Carlos; my wife and I still see her once a year) at one time worked out of the one-story building at 1232 Cherry St., which is one of the properties that make up the site where this new housing project would be built. This one:

The other main parcel that would be used for this project already contains a two-story apartment building containing six affordable apartments:

The third parcel consists of a small parking area behind a portion of 1244 Cherry St., plus some alley space. Currently, there is an alley that largely parallels Laurel Street and runs behind the many commercial buildings lining that street between San Carlos Avenue and Cherry Street. Today, that alley jogs around the former optometrist building:

The plan is to tear down the optometrist building and extend the alley straight through to Cherry Street. Then, the bit of alley between the optometrist and the existing apartment building would be transferred to the Cherry Street Commons project, along with this small parking area, which appears to be part of the same oddly-shaped parcel that includes the alley:

All of this shuffling would allow Cherry Street Commons to be constructed on a single somewhat L-shaped parcel extending back to the Wheeler Plaza building, as shown in the following overhead image:

At the moment, the City of San Carlos owns the optometrist building, having acquired it through eminent domain back in January of 2021. The six-unit affordable apartment building, on the other hand, is owned and managed by HIP Housing, who along with Eden Housing is a partner in the Cherry Street Commons project.

The two non-profits aim to build Cherry Street Commons as a 100% affordable, 33-unit for-rent apartment building. The units would come in a range of sizes, from one bedroom (15 units), to two bedroom (8 units), to three bedroom (9 units), making this building ideal for families. And all of the apartments would be rented at income levels ranging from Extremely Low up to Low.

In addition to the apartments themselves, the building would have a 21-space parking garage on the ground floor, an internal bike storage room, and a courtyard and “tot lot” on the second floor. Design-wise, the building would employ stucco and tiles (both on the roof and around some of the ground-floor windows and doors) to give it a Spanish style, making it fit in well with its immediate surroundings and the community at large:

To fit 33 affordable units (plus a manager’s unit, the parking garage, and various amenities) onto what is a fairly small lot, the architect had no choice but to go up. Thus, as you can see, this building will have four floors of living space atop a single-level “podium” containing the parking garage, the building’s lobby, the bike storage room, and a management office. Although appearing somewhat tall, the architect was careful to keep this new building comparable in height to the Wheeler Plaza building to which it would abut, and which can be seen behind the building in the above rendering.

Although the garage has fewer spaces than there are apartments in the building, this project’s location makes it pretty much perfect for residents who don’t own cars: not only is there a drugstore (CVS) and a market (Bianchini’s) within very easy walking distance, so, too is the Caltrain station, numerous bus lines, the library, and, of course, the many restaurants, shops, and service businesses along Laurel Street. When it comes to walkable buildings, this one is about as good as you can get. The developers believe that future tenants will “self select” the project partly based on whether or not they own a car (or expect to own one): the limited parking spaces will be doled out via lottery and thus there is no guarantee that any given tenant will be able to get a parking space in the building’s garage.

To perhaps no one’s surprise, the members of San Carlos’ Planning and Transportation Commission had nothing but good things to say about this project, and were delighted to give this project their go-ahead. Assuming that all continues going to plan — which assumes, among other things, that HIP Housing and Eden Housing are successful in obtaining the funding to construct this project — the needed 18-20 months of construction could start as early as the fall or winter of 2024, with residents moving in as early as mid-2026. Oh, and I should note that the current residents of the six affordable apartments at 1244 Cherry St. would be given preference when applications for the new building are being accepted.

There is a great deal of developer interest in San Carlos right now. While there are plenty of office projects on the list, I’m pleased to see that there are some housing projects, too. In particular I’m interested in learning more about one that has been proposed but for which there are no real details yet: the 242-unit apartment building proposed for the current site of the CVS Pharmacy at the very northern border of the city:

I’ll write more about that one when I’ve seen some plans and perhaps heard some discussion from the city’s leaders. In the mean time, though, I’ll be out walking, and contemplating the future of cities like Redwood City and San Carlos.