I got home on Tuesday night after having been out of town for three weeks. The day before I left, I scurried all around town, taking pictures and gathering information. The day after I got back, I did pretty much the same thing. I was happy to be back and eager to see how much had changed over the last three weeks. I had high expectations: when I visit a project week after week, often very little has changed. Over a longer period — three weeks, say — the changes are likely to be a lot more noticeable. And in some cases, that’s true. In others, not so much…

For this week’s walk, my first goal was 112 Vera Ave., the seven-story affordable housing project that is being built largely out of pre-built modules. When I left, around half of the modules had been put into place, but one of the cranes — the large orange one that had been positioned on the street in front of the building site — had been removed, leaving only the smaller crane sitting atop the building’s two-story concrete podium. When I got back, however, I was greeted by the sight of a building in which all of the modules are in place, with no cranes in sight:

Reader Ken had added a comment to my previous post indicating that this building is “hugely tall,” and indeed it is. It really looms over the Firestone automobile service center, doesn’t it? Here’s a view from the other side, showing how it also looms over the small one-story homes that are its immediate neighbor on that side:

What these pictures don’t show, though, are the five-story apartment building directly across El Camino Real (Franklin Street Apartments) and the five-story apartment building directly across Vera Ave. (Villa Montgomery). They also don’t show the eight-story apartment building just down El Camino Real from Franklin Street Apartments (Highwater), and, of course, they don’t show the building that will soon be constructed across El Camino Real from Franklin Street Apartments as part of the ELCO Yards project — which when completed will be seven stories tall. So yes, while this building is hugely tall and does indeed loom over its immediate neighbors, it isn’t that out of line with many others in the immediate area.

Although 112 Vera Ave. was my first goal, it wasn’t actually the first place where I stopped to take pictures. On the way, I went through the Sequoia Station shopping center to check up on its Barnes & Noble store, which will soon be closing. Although the store was clearly open when I visited, I saw a number of empty shelves. A sign affixed to the door assured patrons that the store would be restocked soon (I was there on Wednesday; by now it may once again be full). More importantly, though, the sign indicated that the sale (with the store closing, I gather that much, if not everything, is on sale) will run through September 16. So if anyone was wondering how much longer Barnes & Noble’s Redwood City store would be open, that apparently will be their last day.

Elsewhere in the center, I noticed construction fencing around a portion of the parking lot in front of the empty Old Navy store. Peeking over the fence didn’t tell me much about what construction was — or did — take place: the only evidence of any work are some darker patches in the asphalt, indicating that perhaps some utility work of some sort had been done:

But those patches could be old; it’s possible that the fencing is there for some other reason. The Old Navy space still has a “For Lease” sign in the window, and I didn’t see any activity inside, so it doesn’t appear that a new tenant has been identified for that very large retail space. However, I did see that a relatively small portion of what I believe used to be part of Old Navy is being carved out for a new tenant:

This smaller space to the right of Habit Burger Grill — where you can see an open door — is apparently going to become a new location for the salad chain Sweetgreen. While the thought of opening a salad place seems odd at this particular time (given Taylor Farms’ lettuce recalls), hopefully by the time this place opens the Cyclospora outbreak will no longer be an issue.

When I got to the corner of El Camino Real and Jefferson Avenue, something caught my eye that caused me to cross El Camino first before then crossing Jefferson. On the day I was out walking, the old, seemingly abandoned house at 1217 Jefferson Ave. — behind The Vitamin Shoppe — had been painted a rather vibrant shade of yellow:

However, either the owner changed their mind, or they simply always intended to apply a layer of white over the top, allowing a bit of yellow to still show through. Here is what that same building looks like today (Friday):

I really like the style of this house, but the location isn’t ideal. Not only is it right on a very busy street, the house doesn’t have a garage, and parking isn’t allowed on that portion of Jefferson. Thus, the homeowner will presumably have to park along the right side of the house, and then back out onto Jefferson when they need to go somewhere. Not my idea of fun… But at least this is an extremely walkable location, given that Whole Foods is directly across the street and Sequoia Station is kitty-corner to the house. Plus, the Caltrain station and downtown Redwood City are just a few short blocks away. So at least any future homeowner won’t have to do very much driving.

After visiting 112 Vera, I wandered up the street to the next block, where the five-unit townhouse project at 239 Vera Ave. has pretty much wrapped up:

At least these folks have garages: each of the five units includes a two-car garage.While I was there, a crew seemed to be putting the finishing touches on the building’s rooftop solar panels, which is a nice perk. I have yet to see any “for sale” signs, but I have to think they’ll be going up very soon, if they haven’t since I was there. Having watched the construction since October of 2023, I wouldn’t mind taking a tour…

Next up, ELCO Yards. The two parcels where apartment buildings are to be built do not seem to have changed since I left town, but I did note that both the office building along El Camino Real and the one behind it along Cedar Street (with its main entrance on Main Street) are being fitted out for their initial tenants. I believe that a single tenant — some portion of CZI (Chan Zuckerberg Initiative) — will be occupying both, but I won’t know for sure until signs go up. I had previously assumed that CZI would be occupying the two buildings between Main Street and the Caltrain tracks, but given that it was apparently the first tenant to sign a lease (I have yet to hear of any others), my guess about which building(s) they would occupy was likely wrong. Whoever it is, though, filling all or part of two of the development’s four office buildings will be a big step forward. Me, I’m hoping that the presence of a large number of employees will trigger the build-out of the stand-alone restaurant building at the corner of Main and Chestnut streets that was built as a part of the ELCO Yards project; that is a terrific building with a great outdoor space that will surely attract a lot of customers (me included, I suspect).

After ELCO Yards, I headed down Chestnut Street towards Broadway Village. But not before making a stop at Jardin de Niños park, to check up on its expansion project. There, the gazebo has received four more roof sections, and the spire has been added to the top of the cupola. That gazebo is proceeding at a snail’s pace, but I was at least pleased to see that a fencing company was on-site installing the black metal fencing that will surround this part of the park:

(The new fencing is a bit hard to make out behind the chain-link fencing, but the guy in the yellow vest just to the right of the lamppost is carrying a section.)

Over at Broadway Village, the buildings look done; the only visible work is taking place outside. The half of Bay Road between Woodside Road and Chestnut Street at the Woodside Road end is being repaved (the other half having been done some time ago):

And with most (or all) of the landscaping now in place, crews are finishing up the hardscaping that will make up the walkway through the center of the project connecting Bay Road and Broadway, and are installing what appears to be a wooden fence to separate the residential half of the property from the yet-to-be-developed office half (I presume that the wooden fencing will be removed once the office buildings are done):

I didn’t make it down to Stanford’s Redwood City campus this week. Instead, I headed up to Maple Street and walked over Highway 101. From there, I made my way to the path that runs behind the police station and alongside the freeway. On the lot at 1580 Maple St., where soon the county hopes to see a 110-unit supportive housing project built, I noticed a couple of pieces of heavy equipment, various piles of materials, and a couple of workers cutting and welding sections of corrugated iron of the type that is often used to shore up large holes for underground parking garages and such (the project to be built on this site won’t have an underground garage):

In truth, I think they are preparing to do some underground utility work, perhaps in preparation for that housing project. But I should note that before the housing project is built, this particular parcel will, I believe, be raised to the level of the surrounding parcel — it having been raised to protect against sea-level rise (also in anticipation of a 131-unit townhouse project). I intend to make regular visits to the site until I can figure out exactly what is going on.

The path I took led me to the roundabout between the Boardwalk Auto dealerships and the Courtyard by Marriott hotel; from there I made my usual loop around the mixed-use (housing and a large fitness center) project underway at 557 E. Bayshore Road. I first came to the site of the new VillaSport athletic club, which these days is looking absolutely massive:

Of course, it looks massive because it will be: nearly 100,000 square feet of workout rooms, spaces for fitness classes, swimming pools, kids areas, and countless amenities. Next to it, the first of two large apartment buildings continues to make steady progress. From the street, not much looks to have changed. However, from the side facing the Bay, through the protective screening you can just make out various colors that have been applied to the building’s exterior stucco:

I’m seeing white, brick red, and a dark grey/brown color. I can’t wait for the screening to come down, revealing this 222-unit apartment building in all its glory.

On my way back home I visited the hotel project at the corner of Veterans Boulevard and Brewster Avenue, but of that project I have little to report. It appears that stucco is being applied on the exterior, while a great deal of work is undoubtedly going on inside the building. But the screening on that building blocks most of my view of the ongoing activity, so with the building’s structure complete, until that screening comes down you likely won’t hear much from me on this one.

That about did it for my walk this week. However, a project that appeared to be long dead, after having been approved by the Redwood City Planning Commission back in May of 2021, came back to life while I was away: there is an all-new proposal for the housing project at 150 Charter St. (which is by Target, up against the railroad tracks). I’ll go through that proposal, plus an updated proposal for a large commercial project at 10 Twin Dolphin Dr. (in Redwood Shores), in upcoming posts. So stay tuned…