In response to last week’s post, one of my readers came back with a question:

Any idea what’s going on with the “futuristic” construction at 1390 Woodside? It’s been in works forever, and I don’t even see anyone working there anymore.

While I saw people working on it both last week and this, I have to agree with the “it’s been in the works forever” comment. I don’t honestly know what is taking the construction of this building, located at the corner of Woodside Road and Massachusetts Avenue, so long:

The Citibank building that formerly stood there was demolished back at the beginning of 2020, so it has taken more than three and a half years to get this far on what I would think is a relatively simple two-story building. And given that nearly all of the ground floor is a covered parking area — except for a small ground-floor lobby with an elevator and stairwell, all of this building’s enclosed space (12,000 square feet) is on the second floor — things would seem to be even easier.

Surely whomever owns this building wants to get it wrapped up as quickly as possible, so that they can (hopefully) get a tenant in and paying. But perhaps this building is being constructed for an already identified tenant who is not in a hurry. Or perhaps something about the building’s “futuristic” design and/or materials just made it tricky to build. In any case, as you can see, the building’s exterior is pretty much done, with work continuing on the inside.

When I walked by this week, I watched a number of people working on the underside of that second floor:

Whatever they were doing, I peeked over the construction fences and noted that the sidewalk that will surround the building on three sides is complete, and that it includes tree wells and some nice lampposts (that seem out of character with the modern design of the building, but perhaps their design is a city requirement or something):

The landscaping, which looks as if it’ll be fairly minimal, has yet to be installed. And from what I can tell — which is tricky, given the reflective glass and the fact that I have to stay beyond the construction fencing — the interior is not yet fully built out. Then again, if a tenant for this building has yet to be identified, much of the interior build-out will need to wait until the tenant’s needs have been determined.

If this was a normal project I’d say that given what appears to be left to do, the construction fencing should come down fairly soon. But given the project’s track record so far, it may well take until the end of the year for this project to wrap up.

I find it interesting to contrast the snail’s pace at which 1390 Woodside Rd. is moving with the progress being made just down the street on the new McDonald’s restaurant, at 708 Woodside Rd. Ignoring the amount of time that passed between when the old McDonald’s burned down and when demolition of that ruin began — a period of time that, long as it was, was much shorter than the time between when the Citibank at 1390 Woodside Rd. closed and that building was torn down — this new restaurant building is just zooming along. Demolition occurred in April of 2023 or thereabouts, and then the site sat until last May, when final site clean-up was done and work began on preparing the site for the new building’s foundation. Now, just three months after that ground work began (sixteen months after the old building was demolished), the site looks like this:

Just last week I noted that the building was receiving its exterior plywood; this week, it appeared ready to receive its exterior stucco. At this rate, I wouldn’t be surprised if the new McDonald’s opens before the end of the year. And I wouldn’t be surprised if it beats the office building at 1390 Woodside Rd. to the finish line.

To be fair, the design for this new McDonald’s may be a standard one that the company uses these days, minimizing the time needed for architectural design work. As well, the company is large enough that they might have regular crews that do nothing but work on McDonald’s buildings. And certainly McDonald’s is able to get materials and restaurant equipment quickly (and/or they ordered it before the old building was even torn down). Thus, it really isn’t a surprise that the project is moving so quickly and without pause. But it sure makes for an interesting contrast with its fellow project down the street…

Elsewhere in the city, I spent a fair amount of time watching as a steady stream of trailer trucks hauled soil onto the Century Park 12 Theaters site (557 E. Bayshore Rd., across Highway 101, amid the automobile dealerships) and dumped it, followed by various pieces of heavy equipment that spread the soil out. It seems that work has begun to raise at least part of the site to counter sea-level rise. Although why they are only doing a portion of the parking lot at the moment and not waiting until they’ve torn down the old theater building and the remainder of the parking lot — which also will have to be raised — I don’t know.

Downtown, at the corner of Marshall Street and Middlefield Road, the Taube Family Carriage House and Automobile Gallery is zooming along, at least for now: a lot of steel is going up, and that stuff can be erected and bolted together pretty quickly:

If the yellow sealant foam (if that is indeed what it is) around the window openings on the ELCO Yards building at the corner of El Camino Real and Cedar Street is any indication, we may be seeing glass being installed in these openings soon:

The eight-unit townhouse-style condominium development going up on the Woodside Road lot where Honey Bear Trees used to do business at Christmastime has passed the stucco stage, and is getting its final bits of trim before the exteriors are painted:

Over on Veterans Boulevard at Brewster Avenue, the 91-room hotel project has begun to rise into the air — and is doing so rather quickly:

Finally, The Baker Next Door did indeed open on Tuesday, as the proprietors had hoped. My wife and I went by on Tuesday to congratulate them and to buy some bread (and coffee, and morning buns) and I was delighted to see a steady stream of customers. If you are looking for some good bread, or a different place for coffee and a pastry in the morning, I heartily recommend giving them a try. They’re open Tuesday through Sunday, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Look for the bright yellow door at 851 Main St.