This week I took a walk with the aim of checking in on the affordable housing project being built by Mercy Housing in North Fair Oaks. North Fair Oaks, as you likely know, is a small community in an unincorporated part of San Mateo County sandwiched between Redwood City and Atherton. You can get there via either Middlefield Road or El Camino Real; I opted to walk south on Middlefield Road, follow Fifth Avenue out to El Camino Real, after which I walked back north into Redwood City. Altogether, this week’s walk, which began and ended at my front door and included a couple of minor detours (as is nearly always the case), was just over eight miles.

To get to Middlefield Road from my home near Sequoia Hospital, I walked down Hopkins Avenue, which took me past Stafford Park, home to Redwood City’s Wednesday night summer concert series. That park also appears to be home to a city-run summer kids camp; as I passed by I had to stop and take a closer look. For one thing, they had a portable climbing wall set up where the water play feature normally operates:

For another, they had a very large, inflatable soccer field set up along the King Street side of the park:

If I’d had a ball with me, I would have been tempted to jump inside and try to kick a few goals. I’m sure the kids had a lot of fun!

At the corner of El Camino Real and Broadway, I did take a minor diversion to check out the sidewalk in front of 851 El Camino Real, which some time ago was the Signarama building but for years now has been in the glacially slow process of being remodeled into a restaurant space. A long time ago a portion of the sidewalk was torn up, presumably to do some utility work, and a temporary, wooden sidewalk was erected. Now, that wooden sidewalk — which over time had deteriorated and was getting less and less safe — is gone, and a neat layer of gravel has replaced it:

Hopefully this is a sign that concrete is soon to follow, and that this sidewalk will once again be easily navigable by all. Although given the pace of the project thus far, it may be a while…

The site of Mercy Housing’s new affordable housing project is an interesting one: it’s located at Redwood Junction, where the train tracks cross Middlefield Road (just a bit past the Redwood City Costco). Look to your right as you head south, and you’ll see the large Fair Oaks Health Center:

Walk (or drive) behind that building, though, and you’ll discover work underway to prep the site for the new housing project:

The project site is an interesting one: not only is it located behind the health center, it is nestled within the gentle curve of the tracks that split off from the main Caltrain line and make their way across Middlefield Road and thus out towards the Bay (and towards what once was the Dumbarton rail bridge, that used to carry the tracks over to the East Bay). The county-owned parcel is 3.1 acres in size, which is easily large enough for the planned two-building development that in total will contain 179 affordable apartments ranging in size from one to three bedrooms, plus a childcare center and community open space. At one time the site was home to a recycling facility, which helps explain the short railroad spur on the property that was being torn up as I stood and watched:

The development should prove to be an attractive one; here is one of the renderings provided by the architect to give us some idea of what the final project should look like:

I’m going to enjoy keeping an eye on this one.

I could have turned around at this point, but I had gotten wind of a mural project taking place along Fifth Avenue between Middlefield Road and El Camino Real. Thus, I continued along Middlefield Road through the retail center of North Fair Oaks, and turned right when I reached Fifth Avenue.

The murals, which are only partially completed, are apparently being done by volunteer residents under the guidance of the artist. Unfortunately, unlike the lovely mural along Redwood City’s Jefferson Avenue where that street ducks beneath the Caltrain tracks, this particular mural is positioned in such a way that it is really only going to be visible to those pedestrians and cyclists using the path alongside Fifth Avenue, a path that is elevated well above the roadway. From a car you might just be able to get a glimpse, but don’t plan on it. To really appreciate what the community is putting together, you need to get out and walk along each side of the roadway (but note that the north side has been prepped, but the real artwork has not yet begun; all of the work thus far has been done along the south side).

I’ve walked that path a number of times, but never really noticed how the sloping walls alongside the path were divided into panels, framed by rock:

Or perhaps these panels were newly created just for this project? Either way, they’ve all been painted with a base coat of white paint, upon which the various images are being added by artist Emily Fromm with the help of others.

The panels are truly lovely, and illustrate various parts of North Fair Oaks. Here is one, showing part of North Fair Oaks that I had just walked through in order to get to the art project:

Here is another, featuring the area’s K-8 school (Garfield), which is part of the Redwood City School District:

I’m looking forward to seeing this mural once it’s complete. North Fair Oaks has something to be truly proud of here, and I hope that the community appreciates it.

Coming back along El Camino Real, it appears that back in February the recently-completed Sunrise Senior Living Center at the corner of E. Selby Ln. was sold to a new company. The new owners — it is now called Oakmont of Redwood City — bills the facility as a place for both assisted living and memory care.

Although I’ve never been inside, it certainly looks nice. And with apartments ranging from studios to two-bedroom suites, I can believe that it might be a great place to live out one’s senior years.

From Oakmont I headed back up El Camino Real towards home, but not before making one final stop: I wanted to see if there had been any progress on the five-unit townhouse development planned for 239 Vera Avenue (short answer: no). This now-empty lot once held a single family home that was apparently built back in 1912. Now, though, the lot is apparently deep enough that a single building containing five adjoining townhouses can be built there, end-on from the street.

Although the building will be three stories high, and thus loom over its neighbors somewhat, being end-on to the street should help it blend into the neighborhood a bit. And to be fair, it shares a block with the recently completed ten-unit townhouse complex at the corner of Vera Avenue and Adams Street, so truly it won’t be that much of an anomaly.

As for the units themselves, each will have a two-car garage plus an office and, in three of the five units, a full bathroom on the ground floor. On the second floor there will be the unit’s living room, dining room, and kitchen, plus a walk-in pantry, full bathroom (with tub!) and a small balcony. Finally, the third floor of each unit will consist of a master bedroom and bath plus two other bedrooms and a full bathroom to be shared by those two bedrooms. Size-wise, they’ll range from 2,186-2,265 square feet, plus garages in excess of 500 square feet. That’s a good amount of room; these should be quite comfortable for a range of households. Don’t expect much outdoor space, though; although the development appears as if it’ll be nicely landscaped, the only common outdoor space is a small patio with a single bench located behind the building. And those small balconies are only 63 square feet in size.

I’m seeing more and more of these small townhouse developments springing up in Redwood City. Personally, I’m pleased to see them. Not only do they make much better use of the limited free real estate we have (primarily, by going vertical), they provide for-sale housing in our traditional residential areas that cost less than most single-family homes. I have no idea of what the final pricing will be — I presume that isn’t actually determined until the units are pretty much complete and all of the building costs have been added up — but in looking at some of the other more recently completed projects, the dollar-per-square-foot cost of a townhouse seems well below the cost of a nearby home. Which makes sense, given that much of the cost of a home goes into the land, and townhouses have a relatively tiny footprint.