I’m guessing that most people don’t give much thought to the first impression that a city makes, other than perhaps those in leadership positions (City Council members, Planning Commission members, and the like), some city staffers, and odd people like me. I was thinking about that the other day as I explored the two projects on either side of Holly Street just west of Highway 101. Until relatively recently, the first things you saw when you came off the freeway at Holly and headed towards the main part of town were:

• the back side of an electrical supply business
• a mini storage yard
• an In-N-Out Burger restaurant
• two gas stations

Together they paint a practical, but not altogether pretty, picture. These days, though, that picture is changing, likely very much for the better. On the north side of Holly Street, the mini-storage is gone, and work is well underway on Portal 405, a six-story life-sciences building that will soon occupy the site:

Ultimately, the building will consist of four levels of life-science office/lab space atop two above-ground parking levels and one underground parking level. All together those three levels of parking will be able to contain 422 vehicles.

Although the site’s address is 405 Industrial Rd., the parcel is what is known as a “flag lot.” The bulk of the property sits between the freeway and the In-N-Out Burger restaurant, with the driveway (the “flagpole”) running in from Industrial Road along the north side of the In-N-Out Burger. And because the building will sit between the freeway and the restaurant, those getting off Highway 101 at Holly Street and heading west will no longer have a direct view of the restaurant, but will instead see something like this:

That’s certainly more attractive than what was there before! Of course, there will still be some indication that the In-N-Out Burger is hiding out behind the building. Here is what the building will look like from the intersection of Holly Street and Industrial Road:

This view of the building also makes clear that the building’s lower two levels are for parking. The building’s main entrance will be on the far end, closest to where the driveway comes in from Industrial Road (and, as you can see, close to the In-N-Out Burger building):

Just about a week and a half ago, on Monday, November 6, the San Carlos Planning Commission recommended to the City Council that they approve the 188-room Indigo Hotel project, planned for 501 Industrial Road, which is the southwest corner of the intersection of Holly Street and Industrial Road. That is the parcel between Highway 101 and Industrial Road on the south side of Holly, and is where the electrical supply business (Bayshore Supply) was located until recently. That business moved over to Brittan Avenue some time ago, however, and recently the building was torn down:

Now the parcel sits, waiting for the City Council to give the project a green light, something they could do at their November 27 meeting. Assuming they do, of course, the property will continue to sit for probably two years or so, while the developer creates their construction drawings, obtains the necessary building permits, and ensures that the project financing is in place. Assuming all goes well, though, people entering this part of San Carlos from the direction of the freeway will get a very different view than they have today:

That’s a pretty attractive view, if you ask me. And a very different face than would be presented on the Industrial Road side:

This one is still attractive, of course, but just a bit different. In any case, it would almost touch the relatively new Residence Inn, at least towards the rear, near the highway. In front, along Industrial Road, they would be separated by the small “Bakers Local 24” building:

The six-story Hotel Indigo building will have, as I noted, 188 guest rooms along with a variety of amenities and a large open patio within the arc of the building. As you can see, along Industrial Road the building will only be three stories in height, so that it doesn’t loom over the single-family homes (and a gas station) located just across Industrial.

Bucking current trends, parking for the 155 vehicles that can be accommodated on site will mostly be in conventional surface parking spaces located between the hotel and the freeway, and between the hotel and the Bakers Local building. Forty four of the parking spaces will be in a ground-level garage, located inside the curving part of the building that mirrors the adjacent Highway 101 southbound onramp.

Here is a rendering of the central patio:

All in all, this looks to be a very nice project, and one that, together with Portal 405 just across Holly Street, would make for a far more attractive face for those entering San Carlos for the first time.

Once in San Carlos, as most of you well know, there is a lot of construction going on throughout the city. I naturally had to check up on a couple of other San Carlos projects while I was out. Just a handful of blocks down Industrial Road, at 777 Industrial Rd., the project to convert the Honda dealership building into (wait for it…) life-science office/lab space appears to be rapidly nearing completion, at least on the outside:

As a reminder, before work got underway, the building looked like this:

Some transformation, eh?

Over on Brittan Avenue, the basic structure of the building being constructed on a former parking lot at 1030 Brittan Ave. now appears complete:

No prizes for guessing what this building is intended to be used for…

Lastly, I checked in on the long-delayed building project at 993 Laurel St. (at the corner of Laurel Street and Morse Boulevard, where a single-story building housing Headlines hair salon used to be):

I like the general look of this building at this point, but I’m less pleased, personally, with what is apparently to be the rather industrial-looking final product:

As you can see, the sloping roof will be hidden behind a square and somewhat austere facade. But at least this building will make better use of the small parcel (9,000 square feet) parcel upon which it will sit: it will have two stories of office space above ground floor retail and an internal, 31-space parking garage.

That about does it for my latest expedition into the depths of San Carlos. Except, perhaps, for that last one, the latest changes to “the city of good living” are certainly making a good impression on me…

---

Redwood City just posted an update on the status of Docktown Marina. The key takeaway is that only four tenants remain, and that the city continues to work on coming to settlement agreements with each of those tenants that will induce them to move. I continue to visit the site, and continue to watch the place dwindle down to almost nothing:

All of the Docktown Marina signs have been removed, although someone put up a fabric sign proclaiming at least part of the complex to be “Steinberger Marina.”

I don’t know if that is an official designation, or just wishful thinking on someone’s part. In any case, of the few floating homes that remain, most are boarded up and scheduled for removal or demolition. And as you can see, the “historic water tank” (which is certainly old, but may have actually been an oil tank) is being stored there for the time being; if the city does actually build a park on the parcel of undeveloped land it still owns in the area, this tank may find a new home there, representing a bit of Redwood CIty’s history.

---

Next week being Thanksgiving, I plan to give myself the week off, so don’t expect a post from me next Friday. But here’s hoping you all have a peaceful and enjoyable Thanksgiving day.