Lately I have been walking a loop that begins with a stroll through Red Morton Park (to check on the Veterans Memorial Building/Senior Center project) and then out to Woodside Road to check on the office building at 1390 Woodside Rd., the eight-unit townhouse project at 955 Woodside Rd., and the two restaurant/retail spaces just across the street (at 976 and 980 Woodside Rd.). I then head down Woodside to look in on the soon-to-open AutoZone on El Camino Real just north of Woodside Road, after which I make my way through the ELCO Yards project to check on its progress. If I have enough time (and energy!), I then make my way to Middlefield Road where I check on the state of the Rise City Church project, and then follow Chestnut Street down to Broadway to see how the Broadway Plaza project is doing. I then wander up Broadway towards downtown, making sure to pass by County Center, where I can take updated photos of the Taube Family Carriage House and Automobile Museum being built behind the county’s historic courthouse.

Although I enjoy this particular walk, I’m looking forward to the first group of projects being wrapped up, which will allow me to spend more time in other parts of the city (and in San Carlos and Menlo Park). But those first few projects, in particular, are so close to being finished that I figure I should keep checking in on them until the very end, when I can hopefully tour them and then write about them for what I hope is the last time.

The Veterans Memorial Building/Senior Center project still has some way to go, but the end is definitely in sight. From the exterior the building itself looks pretty much done, with just a few touch-up items to be completed. Currently — as has been the case for the past month or two — much of the on-site activity seems bent on getting the hardscaping and landscaping installed. With the sidewalk along Madison Avenue back in place and available for public use, it is much easier to get a good look at the work on the grounds surrounding the project. When I was there this week, work was underway on the project’s northeast end (where there will be a 57-space parking lot), just behind the fence separating the project site from the Madison Avenue sidewalk:

All along the Madison Avenue side of the project landscaping work is underway:

When I was there I watched as a large number of irrigation valves were being installed at the far side of the promenade that will run along the southwest end of the building. The landscapers were using purple pipes, indicating that at some point the city intends to use recycled water to irrigate the landscaping around the building. But given that the recycled water pipelines have yet to get farther west than El Camino Real and the ELCO Yards project (I believe), for now those purple pipes will be carrying potable water.

From the park side of the project, I could see that the promenade itself is pretty much complete. At that end, it now connects to an existing walkway that heads into the park to the southwest, alongside the skate park:

(In the above image, the white concrete walkway has been recently poured; note how it connects to the existing, grayer walkway just at the left edge of the image.)

Out on Woodside Road, where it meets Massachusetts Avenue, the small office building at 1390 Woodside just sits, looking complete and showing no real signs of activity. Except for the construction fencing, which remains up around the property, you’d never know that this building hasn’t already crossed its own finish line:

Given that there is no sign of construction activity either inside (as best I can tell from the sidewalk) or out, I spent some time trying to get a glimpse of the inside, to see if perhaps furniture is being moved in. Unfortunately, the windows are hard to see through (the blinds that are covering many of the windows don’t help, of course). Also not helping is the fact that the buildings 12,000 square feet of office space is on the second floor; what looks like space on the ground floor is a partially disguised parking garage. There is a small lobby on the ground floor (facing Woodside Road) but it that is mostly just a foyer that leads to the building’s elevator and main stairwell (there is also a stairwell on the Virginia Avenue side). That lobby can be seen in the center of the following image:

I so want to call this one done — I basically did that in my 2024 in Review post — but until I either see a “for lease” sign go up, or indications of a tenant moving in, I’ll keep watching…

Down the street, the 955 Woodside Townhomes project also looks to be just about to break the tape at the finish line, with just a bit more landscaping to go (the construction fencing has yet to be removed, of course):

Intero Real Estate is apparently going to be handling the sale of these eight townhouses, but as yet they aren’t listed on Intero’s website. Although I’m planning to walk through the project when it is open to prospective buyers (I’m not in the market, but I am curious as to how these look inside) I mainly want to know how these will be priced. Oh, and I am very curious to see if they made a special effort to block the noise from the next-door car wash…

Across the street from the above project, the building that formerly housed Bravo Taqueria (and should house it again, soon, I believe) and the next-door building that once was home to 5th Quarter Pizza (which will not be back; that building, which is now smaller than before, has a For Lease sign on it) are pretty much done, although the parking lot between the two has yet to receive its new asphalt, and the pergola that will shade part of the 5th Quarter building is still being constructed:

Down at El Camino Real, I didn’t take new pictures of the AutoZone building because nothing has changed in a while (including inside, where the shelves appear fully stocked). I did get a peek into the back stock area (which is accessible from the front of the building); it too had a myriad of shelves that were packed full of brown cardboard boxes of various sizes. Computer-printed signs on the front doors say “Opening Soon,” but no specific date is given (I checked their existing store at 901 El Camino Real; no signs there indicating when it might close). So I’ll just have to keep watching this project, too. But not for very long, I suspect.

As for the ELCO Yards project, work on all four office buildings continues, but signs that it is close to the end continue to crop up. For one, the portion of Main Street that runs right through the middle of the project is actively being paved, and thus may be back open for us to drive on soon:

Final details like the long horizontal shades on the outside of “Building E South” (at the corner of Main and Chestnut streets) are being applied:

And of course the restaurant building that will stand very near the corner of Main and Chestnut (in front of the above building) continues to make steady progress; the roof shingles seem ready to be applied:

Finally, although I didn’t get a picture of it this week, there are trees on the rooftop deck of the ELCO Yards building out on El Camino Real (at Cedar Street). If that doesn’t indicate that the building is pretty much done, I don’t know what does. Although the sidewalk on the El Camino Real side of that building still needs to be reconstructed…

I didn’t go by the Broadway Plaza project this week, so no updates there. I did go by the Taube Family Carriage Museum and Automobile Gallery, but although work on that project continues, from the exterior not much has changed since I last wrote about it. I did, however, manage to get a peek into the Hotel Sequoia lobby, which is being cleaned up and repainted to make it an appropriate space for the new Center for Creativity, which will occupy some or all of the hotel’s ground floor for the next two years (while preparations are made to revitalize and expand the historic hotel, presumably).

This new center for the arts is being brought to us by ARTS RWC, a group that has been working to “advance Redwood City and neighboring cities as vibrant and sustainable arts communities” since 2010, and who promises to bring lots of art to the city in 2025.

That is essentially it for my walk this week, but I do have two items of restaurant news. One, the final bit of space left over on Theatre Way when Portobello Grill closed — the small space to the left of Teriyaki Madness — is finally being occupied:

This new venture is called Con Azucar Café, and ours is the latest installation in a fast-growing chain of stores that aim to “fuse the flavors of Mexico with the coffee scene of the United States.” Although various forms of coffee and tea take top billing on their menu, there will be food items as well (including avocado toast, a 3-cheese grilled cheese sandwich, “Torta de Jamon,” and more). It appears that there will also be bakery items, plus various fruit-based “refreshers.” And given my glimpse into our Redwood City store, the decorations look to be quite elaborate. So keep an eye open, and check them out when they open their doors. Con Azucar (“with brown sugar”) Café looks to be a nice addition to our mini “restaurant row” along Theatre Way.

For my second restaurant item this week, on Sunday my wife and I paid a visit to Woodside Roadhouse, a neat little smash burger place located just across the street from Woodside Plaza, at 1515 Woodside Rd.:

I regret to say that I’ve overlooked this little spot for too long — they opened in late 2023 — but fortunately others seem to have found them: they’re rated 4.5 stars on Yelp (out of 130 reviews) which seems quite good for a restaurant. It is a relatively small place inside, but there are the two picnic tables out front and a half-dozen or so more in the enclosed rear patio.

Food-wise, they serve a variety of smashed burgers, plus “NashVille Style” chicken tenders, salads, and French bread pizza. As for drinks, they have eight or so local beers on tap, plus a number of beers and sodas in their self-serve fridge up front. They also have at least one kind each of red and white wine.

My wife and I both had burgers, and we split a basket of fries. I had the Roadhouse Burger, which is just a burger with American cheese and grilled onions. She had the Wildcat, which has grilled onions, Swiss cheese, bacon, and a brown sugar BBQ sauce. Both were good, although my wife is interested in giving their “Where’s the Beef” a try (it has an Impossible patty). As for the fries, they were great, but the basket proved to be a bit more than the two of us could eat. Next time — and I expect that there will be a next time — we plan to split a half order.

Woodside Roadhouse is a neat little independent burger joint and pub, one that is well worth a visit for you burger lovers out there. I should note that although Caltrans is currently working to eliminate parking along Woodside Road — including in front of this restaurant — there is a small parking lot in the rear (accessible via a driveway just to the west), and there is parking along the cross streets that branch off from that side of Woodside Road. So don’t let a lack of parking directly in front of the restaurant deter you.

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In Redwood City’s seemingly never-ending quest to recruit for its Boards, Commissions, and Committees (BCCs), the city is now taking applications for one partial-term seat (expiring at the end of June 2026) and two full-term seats (expiring at the end of June 2029) on the city’s Library Board. Information on the board and the duties of its members can be found here. One need not have a background with libraries or Library Science to be on this board; the only requirements are that you be a US citizen, a resident of Redwood City, and are 18 years of age or older. The online application, which needs to be filled out by March 30, can be found here.

Not that into our public libraries? Redwood City has a number of openings on various BCCs: see the full list here.