Last week I began my post with a mention of the impending closure of University Art, the terrific art supply store that has been located at 2550 El Camino Real in Redwood City since 2014. I wish I could report that it is not closing after all, but no. I did, however, spend some time this week digging into the future of the building, and thus I’m able to report that it is slated to become a children’s indoor play space called “Monsterland.”

The proprietors behind this new venture have already gone before Redwood City’s Zoning Administrator (on February 24), and have had their project approved. Although they have yet to submit complete building plans and thereby obtain the needed building permits, based on the preliminary plans submitted to the Zoning Administrator for review and based on what was stated during the review meeting, it’s clear that they are making no structural changes and no changes to the building’s exterior. Instead, they will be bringing the bathrooms up to code for this type of operation (adding kid-friendly toilets and sinks and such), reconfiguring the first and second floor spaces along the back of the building, and building a lobby/reception area just inside the front doors. Then, they’ll install two play structures — one large (occupying 2,256 square feet of space) and one small (occupying 511 square feet of space) in the large open area that today is University Art’s retail space. When done, Monsterland will have three party rooms, two play structures, two play areas, an arcade, and a parent lounge in addition to the lobby.

Thanks to the building’s large glass walls (along El Camino Real, and along the south-facing side where the building’s entry is), this new play space should be light and airy, and thus should be a welcoming and fun place for kids ages 2-9. Monsterland anticipates being open Monday-Friday from 1 – 8 p.m., and 10 a.m. – 9 p.m. on weekends. With three party rooms, it will of course be a new venue for children’s parties, but will also have regularly scheduled “open play” times.

Switching to this week’s walk — which, at 8.4 miles was on the shorter side for me — I spent some time studying the progress on the Hampton Inn hotel being built at 690 Veterans Blvd. (at the corner of Veterans and Brewster Avenue). The side of the building facing Veterans Boulevard seems to be pretty much ready for its exterior finishes, with all (or nearly all) of the yellow moisture barrier having been installed:

The side facing Brewster Avenue is not too far behind, although a large section has yet to receive its moisture barrier:

Soon the building’s exterior will be clad in a mix of stucco, metal panels, dark brick, and concrete.

While on my walk I also spent some time downtown trying to peer into the new Taube Family Carriage House and Automobile Gallery, just behind the county’s historic courthouse. Most of the windows had their interior shades down, and thus I couldn’t really see in. But I did manage to get a picture of the entrance lobby:

We’ll learn more once the museum is stocked and open to the public, but I think it is safe to assume that the large photograph you can see on the back wall is of the office of Thaddeus “Tad” Taube, philanthropist and keystone founder of the project, who sadly passed away last September at the age of 94.

On a more mundane note, the retail space at 2323 Broadway that has been empty since Mayers Jewelers moved down the street (to 2068 Broadway) has a new tenant: HelpMeRepair.com, a repair service for phones, laptops, PCs and game consoles:

According to its website, HelpMeRepair welcomes walk-ins (at least, it will, when it is actually open; they didn’t appear to be quite ready to open when I went by), but you may want to make a reservation, something that seems easy to do either by calling or by clicking the appropriate link on their website.

Eventually I made my way out to 557 E. Bayshore, where the large apartment building — which is clearly visible from Highway 101 — continues to make steady progress. This week, a portion of the building on the side facing the bay was getting its fourth story (out of five):

And, I’m now seeing clear signs that work on the VillaSport athletic club building, which will be located on the same parcel but closer to E. Bayshore Road, has begun:

From what I can tell work is just getting started on the foundation, so it’ll be a while before we start to see some vertical progress. Interestingly, the two buildings are being built by separate contractors: the apartment building is being built by W. E. O’Neil, while the VillaSport building is being built by Moorefield Construction, Inc.

Lastly, over at ELCO Yards, I watched the concrete for a portion of the sidewalk along Main Street between Beech and Elm Streets being smoothed:

It’s a bit unusual to see the sidewalk being built before the building that will occupy that dirt lot just beyond it is constructed, but whatever. The plan is to construct a seven-story, 249-unit for-rent apartment building on the site, with construction to begin (hopefully) later this year. The building will touch Lathrop, Beech, Elm, and Main streets, with its lobby on its Main Street side and with a large notch cut out at the corner of Main and Elm streets to avoid this small single-story office building:

(The above is a very old photo, taken in 2017. Since then the overhead wires have all been undergrounded, the taller warehouse building to the left has been demolished, and the sidewalks have been redone. Clearly I need to take a new one…)

Access to the apartment building’s 249-space parking garage (with 11 spaces incorporated into the building’s ground floor and the rest being located on two underground levels) will be from Elm Street. This will be a sister building to the one that will (hopefully) soon be built on the adjacent lot and which will front onto El Camino Real. That property is bounded by El Camino, Beech, Lathrop, and Maple streets (but note that Redwood Creek runs in an open channel between Maple street and where the new building will be).

Lastly, although this didn’t come from my walk, Redwood City’s Development Projects list has a new entry! This one is in the very early stages; at the moment Stanford is just asking for an amendment to the city’s 2013 Stanford Precise Plan and the city’s General Plan that would allow Stanford to study “a Medicine Cancer Center, including an inpatient cancer hospital, an academic research building, a clinical and outpatient building, infrastructure facilities, and parking structures.” But it is the first step on the long path towards adding a new cancer hospital to Stanford’s Redwood City campus along Broadway, something that at least on the surface sounds as if it’d be a real feather in the city’s cap. As we learn more — I have yet to even read the document Stanford has submitted outlining what they have in mind — we’ll all be better able to weigh the pros and cons of their proposal and decide for ourselves whether we actually want to support this or not. There will likely be multiple public meetings dealing with this project, which will not come to fruition for a number of years, if at all, so we should have plenty of time and opportunities to learn more, ask questions, and express our opinions. In any case, I’ll keep readers posted on the progress of this exciting new development.

Energy prices are rising, and the federal government, at least, doesn’t seem to be as interested in subsidizing home solar installations as it once was. If you are regretting missing the tax savings that used to be available (some savings may still be available through the state; I haven’t looked into that lately since my own system is complete), there are still some savings to be had: Bay Area SunShares is a “nonprofit program that makes it easier and more affordable for Bay Area residents to add solar and battery storage to their homes.” They claim to offer average discounts of 15%, which is certainly nothing to sneeze at.

Solar power has allowed my wife and I to not only add air conditioning to our Redwood City house, but also to drastically reduce our natural gas use — while at the same time reducing our electricity bill to zero. And these days we also use very little gasoline thanks to an electric car that accounts for the vast majority of our driving (which we are especially grateful for right now, given the soaring prices at our local gas pumps). The tax breaks may not be what they once were, but for those who own their own home and can possibly afford it, I still highly recommend at least investigating what a solar installation would entail — and Bay Area SunShares may just be the easiest and best way to do that.