Having watched the Broadway Plaza project since before it was even proposed (the project proposal came in late July of 2016; I have photographs of the shopping center that stood on the site from about eight months prior to that), I was delighted to see that the waitlist for one of the three residential buildings is now open, and that the building will open for occupancy in mid-February of 2026. If you’ve been following the project, you’ll know that the building now accepting preliminary applications is the 120-unit fully affordable one that fronts onto Chestnut Street. This building:

Now dubbed The Millton at Broadway Village, the building’s apartments range in size from studios up to three-bedroom units. Qualifying tenants fall either into the “Extremely Low” (total household income at or below 30% of the county’s average median income), “Very Low” (50%), or “Low” (80%) income categories. The Millton’s website has all of the actual numbers (see the “Qualifications” section), but of interest to some is the fact that a studio in this building will rent for no more than $904 per month (that’s for a household falling into the Very Low category; those in higher categories will pay more).

The two- and three-bedroom units are reserved for those in the “Low” income category, while households with total earnings that put them into one of the two lower categories are limited to studios and one-bedroom units (those in the “Low” category can apply for an apartment of any size, from studio up to three bedrooms). Who gets what (if anything) will ultimately be determined by a lottery. But preference will be given to some. From the website:

Preference is given to applicants who or someone in their household currently live, have ever lived, currently work, or have been offered work in Redwood City or applicants who or someone in their household were displaced by City actions or public projects.

The website is very good — far more complete than many I’ve seen — and includes floor plans and a list of the building’s many amenities. One amenity that particularly stood out to me is “assigned garage parking,” but I was also pleased with the list of apartment features, which include stainless-steel energy-efficient appliances, wood plank flooring, stone countertops in kitchens and bathrooms, soaking tubs, recessed lighting, and, in select units, 10’ ceilings and/or private balconies. Thus, although these units are affordable, they do not appear to have been built cheaply.

The other two apartment buildings in the development (one of which you can see in the above photograph near the right-hand side) are not quite as far along, and thus won’t be leasing until later in the year. The large building out on Broadway, at least, is getting close, though: it, too has a website that is not quite as complete but nevertheless shows floor plans and has entry fields by which interested prospective tenants can connect up with the developer. Oh, and this building also has a name: The Colton at Broadway Village.

For those wanting an apartment with a different view, the first (of two) apartment buildings that are to be built on the former site of the Century Park 12 Theatres, along E. Bayshore Road just east of Highway 101 continues to make steady progress. While the central parking garage continues to add stories, a lot of work is now also being done on the foundation and utilities that will support the five stories worth of apartments that will wrap around three sides of that garage:

Look closely [click the image to get one you can zoom in on] and you can see that surrounding the forest of utility pipes and conduits sticking up from the ground in front of the garage are forms for the concrete foundation that will underpin the apartments. This one building will contain 222 apartments (studios, 1-bedroom, and 2-bedroom units), many of which will face out over Bair Island.

Finally, for those wanting to own, rather than to rent, I am happy to announce that the 131-unit townhouse project slated for 1548 Maple St. — the nearly eight-acre parcel that was raised to counteract sea-level rise, and after which almost nothing has been done — is very much alive. Although there has been no real on-site activity for a couple of years now, various factors — COVID-19, the land swap involving two neighboring properties, the construction of the county’s Navigation Center, and our challenging economy with its high labor and materials costs plus its high interest rates — have conspired to cause the developer to hold off on construction. But just this week the Redwood City Planning Commission heard a request from the folks behind this project (The Carlyle Group; they bought the project from Strada Investment Group some time ago) to grant it an additional three years (with an option for two more) to complete the project. Thus, while the site likely won’t see activity for another year or two, the city does seem to be pretty confident that the project will eventually be constructed. The Planning Commission, incidentally, was tasked with merely making a recommendation to the City Council, and they did agree to recommend that the Council grant the developer the extra time, along with a rolling back of certain fees the developer had agreed to pay to the city. Those fees have risen over the years to where the developer says that the project no longer pencils out, and so the recommendation included a roll-back of those fees to the amount agreed to when the project was first approved.

Over at the ELCO Yards project, this week I observed what appears to be some minor utility work beneath the section of Lathrop Street between Beech and Maple streets: between where the two large apartment buildings are to be built as the final pieces of this gigantic project.

As for the status of those two yet-to-be-built residential buildings, the developer is going before the City Council next Monday (the 24th) to request some alterations to the affordable components of those buildings. As originally approved, the two buildings were to contain a total of 109 affordable units (and 392 market-rate units), with just a few (9) of the affordable units being for those at the Very Low level (and the rest being at the Low and Moderate levels). Instead, the developer is proposing to pay the city a large (nearly six million dollar) impact fee, while reducing the total number of affordable units in the two buildings to 81. (Note that the off-site Miramontes building, which was built some time ago as part of this development, has an additional 38 affordable units, but is not affected by Monday’s discussion.) While reducing the total number of affordable units, the developer is also proposing shifting the affordability levels: upping the number at the Very Low level from 9 to 32, eliminating all of the units at the Low income level, and increasing the number at the Moderate level from 41 to 49.

The developer is also proposing that the affordable units be made somewhat smaller than the market-rate equivalents (81 square feet less in one of the buildings, 97 square feet less in the other) while maintaining the number of bedrooms, thus saving money and thereby “improving the project’s financial ability to provide the proposed affordable housing.”

Assuming that the City Council grants their request, the developer intends to pull building permits for the two buildings sometime in 2026.

While I’m in the area, the new HAWK (high-intensity active crosswalk) beacons on El Camino Real at Beech Street have been installed and just might be active:

I took the above picture this week but didn’t have time to try them out. But I certainly will, and soon: I often cross El Camino Real in this area, and until these beacons were installed I either had to cross at Maple Street and walk down to Beech (as I did this week), or I had to extend my walk a bit to Roosevelt Avenue, where the next set of signals are located. In any case, for those of you who regularly drive through here along El Camino Real, expect to see these new beacons flashing from time-to-time. And watch to see who is using the crosswalk: it just might be me…

You’ve probably seen the signs around town, but in case you haven’t looked closely, the 3rd annual “Festive  Finds” crafts fair is taking place on Saturday, December 6th from noon to 4 p.m. It will feature art and gifts appropriate for the season, plus there will be food, and a visit from Santa Claus! So mark your calendars, tell your friends, and bring your family. This year Festive Finds will be located at 2596 Bay Road, in Redwood City: at the corner of Bay Road and Douglas Avenue.