I’ve been traveling, and so I don’t have any current photographs to share. But even while out of town I keep my eyes and ears open. Unfortunately, I hear just as much about what is not going on as I do about what actually is…

A recent email from a realtor included a summary of the Redwood City Discovery project, and implied that the project is soon to break ground. Unfortunately, I’m not sure that is true: I can find no evidence of the developer even filing for an actual building permit, much less them having received one. And this project was approved by the Redwood City Council more than three years ago — in January of 2023 — and I’m not aware that it has been granted an extension. Then again, perhaps the public face of Redwood City’s building permits database isn’t complete and/or up-to-date, and perhaps the realtor has heard from an authoritative source. While I certainly hope that is the case — I’d love to be proved wrong and see this project get built — I’ll believe it when the heavy equipment moves in.

In case the details of the project don’t immediately spring to mind from the name alone (I don’t expect them to; not everyone spends their days keeping track of all of the proposed changes for Redwood City the way I do!), the proposed Redwood City Discovery would be a six-story apartment building at 1330 El Camino Real replacing The Record Man, Happy Donuts, and the retail space in between.

(The above is an old photo, but it should serve to let you know just which property I am talking about.)

The vast majority of the new building’s 130 for-rent apartments would be studios, but there would also be a smattering of one-, two-, and three-bedroom units as well. Twenty-six of those apartments would be designated for households earning at various affordability levels: 7 at the Very Low level, 6 at the Low level, and 13 at the Moderate affordability level — with the rest being leased at prevailing market rates.

From another source I learned that the affordable apartment building along Chestnut Street that is part of the Broadway Village project — The Millton — will indeed be opening its doors to its first residents almost any day now:

It also confirmed that the two market-rate buildings — apparently referred to collectively as The Colton — will begin welcoming their residents later this year:

Together, these three buildings contain 520 for-rent apartments: 120 affordable, and 400 market-rate. As well, the building that fronts onto Broadway contains a 10,000-square-foot childcare center and 11,000 square feet of retail space. But where one hand giveth, the other taketh away: it seems that conditions are not yet favorable for the three office buildings that have been planned to occupy the reminder of the 11.2 acre site, and thus construction on those will not get underway shortly, as I had anticipated. Thus, we may find ourselves staring at the undeveloped half of the parcel — the half of the site towards Woodside Road — for some time to come…

I believe I mentioned it some time ago, but in case you missed it and were wondering, the 7.9-acre site along Redwood Creek on the east side of Highway 101 — 1548 Maple — that was cleared and raised (to protect against sea level rise) but then left undeveloped is likely to stay that way for a couple more years.

(The above is another very old picture; these days those large mounds are covered with weeds.)

In December of last year the developer requested, and the City Council granted, an additional three-year extension (with a possible two additional years if certain conditions are met), meaning that we may not see development of the planned 131 townhouses begin until 2029 or so. However, the conditions of the extension are such that it does seem likely these units will be built, eventually. And before they are, we will likely see some activity on site: the city is pushing the developer to further extend Blomquist Street out to the edge of Redwood Creek. That would not only ensure that the city could (eventually) construct a bridge enabling Blomquist Street to connect to E. Bayshore Road at the roundabout by the Boardwalk auto dealerships, it would also enable the county to proceed with its proposed project to construct a four-story, 110-unit affordable housing project at 1580 Maple Street, close to Highway 101 where the now-demolished Women’s Jail once stood. In any case, the city estimates that the road work would get underway by mid-2027 and would be completed no later than early 2029.

Two weeks ago I mentioned that Hoover Park demolition was pretty much complete. This week the project apparently has moved into the construction phase, as signified by last Monday’s groundbreaking ceremony. Although I was unable to attend the groundbreaking in person, from the press release I learned that this project “represents the largest park renovation Redwood City has undertaken in more than 30 years.” The project is expected to take the rest of the year, with the park reopening (assuming all goes to plan) next January. For a glimpse of the project’s master plan, and background on how the project made it to this point, see the project’s web page.

Finally this week, I was intrigued to read that SamTrans is seriously considering transforming the unused Dumbarton freight railroad line between the Caltrain tracks and University Avenue in East Palo Alto into a dedicated bus lane (apparently, with a companion bike lane and pedestrian walkway). This project is still in the thinking stages, but could potentially give folks living in parts of East Palo Alto and Menlo Park an easy connection to downtown Redwood City and the Redwood City Caltrain station. Note, however, that this project would only make use of the existing (but currently unused) five-mile segment of rail line as far as University Avenue: it is not a goal of this project to rebuild the old Dumbarton rail bridge, which would be a hugely expensive undertaking. Regardless, this express bus route would seem to be a great way to get people who live in the northern parts of East Palo Alto and Menlo Park, and who either work in downtown Redwood City or who work somewhere north of Redwood City along the Caltrain line, out of their cars and onto mass transit (or onto their bikes). Especially given the relatively small number of street crossings those tracks currently encounter, this  could be a particularly efficient way to travel. I’ll be watching the future of this “Reimagine Dumbarton” project with interest…