Well, sure, there is a game called Life, but this week I spent several hours watching the latest Redwood City Council meeting — all 6-1/2 hours of it — and the portion covering the Redwood LIFE: Evolve project was certainly real enough.

Redwood LIFE, for those not familiar, is an 84-acre office park in Redwood Shores that consists of some 20 two-story commercial buildings totaling about 970,000 square feet, nearly all of which are home to life-science labs and offices. The current owner of the property, Longfellow Real Estate Partners, is proposing to replace what is there today with 13 five- or six-story buildings, which together would contain nearly 3.2 million square feet of “purpose-built life science lab and innovation office space.” Accompanying those buildings would be a five-story hotel, a two-story “amenity center,” and three multi-story parking garages. Unlike the existing campus, which in addition to the 20 buildings also contains a sea of surface parking broken up by planting strips, the proposed new development would contain approximately 29 acres of publicly accessible open space, with 15 of those acres being dedicated to public use.

The subject property is located on Belmont Slough, which separates Redwood Shores from Foster City. It is roughly shaped like a human ear, with the lower tip close to the Redwood Shores branch of the Redwood City Public Library. It is mostly separated from the residential portions of Redwood Shores by Marine Parkway, but not entirely: also on that side of the street is Peninsula Landing and one other condominium development (the name of which I’m having trouble unearthing), with the condos being separated from the Redwood LIFE development only by a relatively narrow undeveloped, but somewhat landscaped, strip:

(There is a paved path that extends pretty much the length of the property between it and the two housing developments, one of which you can see in the above photo.)

Finally, the life science campus is divided into two unequal halves by Island Drive, which runs from Marine Parkway to Bridge Parkway:

About two-and-a-half hours of last Monday’s meeting was consumed by the item relating to this property. Of that two-and-a-half hours, more than half was spent hearing public comment. To no real surprise, a fair number of the speakers came out to speak against the proposed project. However, I was indeed surprised — and pleased — to hear that the majority of the speakers were, although not necessarily in favor of the project, at least open to allowing the developer to do the necessary research and then write up an Environmental Impact Report (EIR). Of course, the developer themselves wouldn’t do all of that, but instead would rely on a consulting firm who has experience in that kind of thing. It certainly helped that not only would the developer be paying all of the costs to put together the EIR (plus a new Precise Plan for the area that would outline what could be built), but also that they would be guided by the in-progress development of the EIR to come up with an alternative plan for the area that would have fewer impacts.

The folks who spoke out strongly against the project believe that it is too big, and would have too many environmental impacts, impacts that surely cannot be mitigated to a sufficient degree. And they may well be right. If so, the final EIR should make this abundantly clear. Certainly, the developer has their work cut out for them. For instance, more than tripling the size of what is there today (in terms of square footage) would result in far more employees working on-site, and without some really creative thinking that means far more traffic commuting in and out of an area (Redwood Shores) that currently has only two roads providing access: Marine Parkway and Redwood Shores Parkway. Plus, part of the property sits atop a toxic landfill that mustn’t be disturbed, which could make the construction of five- and six-story buildings tricky. And then there is the fact that the developer currently intends to stretch out the redevelopment project over a span of 25 years, meaning that construction activity, with its attendant noise and countless construction vehicles coming and going, would be occurring off and on for, let’s be honest, more than the remainder of some current residents’ lifetimes.

Monday’s agenda item wasn’t asking the City Council to approve the project — the project is years away from a decision of that magnitude — but instead to simply initiate an investigation into what it would take to replace the current governing plan (the Westport Specific Plan, which essentially caps development at just a bit more than what is there today) with a new Precise Plan that would be needed to enable the project. That investigation would involve creating the EIR and the aforementioned project alternative. Because all of this work will provide a great deal of additional data upon which the City Council (and the Planning Commission, whom I assume will be asked to provide a recommendation to the City Council) would base their future decision, and because it shouldn’t really cost the city anything anyway, the City Council unanimously gave their go-ahead. FYI, all of this may take on the order of two years or so, so for a while at least expect this project to largely fall out of the public eye.

If you are interested in this project and have never actually been over there, I highly recommend taking the loop walk around the perimeter of the campus. I parked in the library parking lot and walked north along the slough (there is a nice paved path) until I reached the crosswalk that took me across Bridge Parkway. That led me directly to the path (again, nicely paved) that runs the length of the Redwood LIFE campus near the next-door condominium developments. Follow that path up to and across Island Drive, and keep going until you reach Bridge Parkway. Cross the street and turn left; there you’ll find the section of SF Bay Trail (again, paved) that runs between the street and the slough. That path will take you all the way back to the library. Along the way, you’ll not only get plenty of views into the Redwood LIFE property, you’ll also get some great views of Belmont Slough (and across to Foster City). All told, the walk is just under 1-3/4 miles, and all on a nice paved path with only two street crossings.

Of course, there was much more to Monday’s meeting than just the Redwood LIFE project. I found the discussion among the councilmembers regarding the new regulations they ultimately put in place for firearm and ammunition retailers to be fascinating, for one. And then there are the ever-present “Consent Calendar” items, which sometimes prove interesting. These items, which normally aren’t discussed but are almost always just approved as a block with a single vote from each of the councilmembers, at least have explanatory reports attached to the meeting agenda. For this week’s meeting, I found myself particularly interested in item 8N: “Amendment No. 2 to Agreement with Gilbane Building Company for project management services, and Amendment No. 3 to Agreement with ELS Architecture and Urban Design for construction administration services for the Veterans Memorial Building/Senior Center-YMCA Project, for extended time and services due to construction delays.”

It was that last bit — “construction delays” — that really captured my interest. I’ve been visiting this project pretty regularly since before demolition of the old buildings took place, and it seemed clear to me that the project was proceeding unusually slowly. I mean, skipping demolition (which began in July), they started moving dirt around on the parcel roughly at the start of October 2021. Today, 21 months later, the building looks like this (the yellow material is insulation; the project has yet to apply the exterior stucco, or whatever goes on the outside of this building):

Yes, COVID directly played a part, and it presumably has had knock-on effects, impacting the available workforce and probably making materials harder to get. But there may have been other, unidentified reasons for delays (the staff report attached to the meeting agenda item is somewhat vague on the actual reasons, beyond “COVID-19”). In any case, the project, which was supposed to have been completed this month, is now slated to be done by next spring, which I take to mean that it needs another nine months. Expect it to open by May 2024.

Some additional Consent Calendar items that may be of interest to some include:

• Item 8.D, “Award of contract for the Roosevelt Avenue Quick-Build Traffic Calming Project”: expect work on a traffic calming project along Roosevelt Avenue to begin soon.
• Item 8.F, “Parcel Map and associated agreements for the 690 Veterans Boulevard development by 690 Veterans, LLC”: apparently, the 91-room hotel planned for the Shell gas station site at the corner of Brewster Avenue and Veterans Boulevard really is going ahead.
• Item 8.K, “Revocable License Agreement with the Redwood City Downtown Business Group for the location of a Farmers’ Market at Courthouse Square, 2200 Broadway, Redwood City, CA 94063 for a term of one year with four one-year extensions”: it appears that there’ll be a Farmer’s Market in Courthouse Square on Wednesdays from 12:00 pm to 5:00 pm, April to November. This will presumably get underway in April 2024.

Finally, a couple of small items. First, I noticed a new business — SoliVana — in the Five Points Shopping Center (where the now-empty Bed, Bath & Beyond store is located):

As you read this, they may now be open. Apparently, this is a “wellness spa” that has flotation tanks, saunas, a “crystal bed healing light therapy system” and a “salt room,” among other things. While I’m not sure I’m the target market, if you are, you may want to drop by and check them out.

As well, when I first caught sight of Hidden Tap & Barrel, next to Curry Pizza House in the “Box buildings,” it occurred to me to wonder what happened to Old Port Lobster Shack, who used to be located both there and in the Woodside Plaza shopping center? A quick internet search revealed that the Lobster Shack has completely pulled up stakes in Redwood City and moved to the Ladera shopping center in Portola Valley. So naturally I had to head over to Woodside Plaza to see what’s up with their former space there. It seems that we have yet another new restaurant on the way:

The new venture is called Corner Table, and I have thus far been unable to learn much about it, other than it will be a sit-down restaurant serving food and drinks, including alcohol (they’ve applied for a liquor license). I’ll keep watching, and when they open I’ll be sure and post about it.

Finally, just across from Corner Table, the small office building that is replacing the old Citibank at 1390 Woodside Rd. (at the corner of Woodside Road and Massachusetts Avenue) continues to plod along. The exterior of the building appears essentially complete, but it looks as if work continues on the inside (which is mostly on the upper floor; the ground floor of what looks like a two-story building is almost entirely a parking garage), and final landscaping work has yet to commence:

Actual construction (again, after demolition of the old Citibank building) got underway almost exactly two full years ago. Perhaps COVID also delayed this one; it shouldn’t take more than two years to complete a building this small…

That’ll do it for this week, other than to echo the plea by San Mateo County Supervisor Warren Slocum to please consider patronizing the restaurants along Middlefield Road in North Fair Oaks. The construction project to rebuild the street through that unincorporated part of the county has taken far longer than originally anticipated (can anyone say “COVID”?) and the restaurants — all of the merchants and small businesses along that street, frankly — are suffering greatly from a lack of business. It can be a bit tricky to get to those businesses right now, but that’s the point: they need us to make that extra effort. So if you are in the mood for barbecue, consider paying a visit to Capelo’s. Are you a coffee lover? Connoisseur Coffee Company needs your attention. I’ve heard great things about Coco’s Burritos, and personally plan to pay them a visit next time I’m walking along there. These and many, many other restaurants (especially if you like Mexican or South American food, as I do) really need our help getting through the final months of construction.