Last week I made mention of the seven-story housing project slated to be built at 112 Vera Ave. That project follows on the heels of the ten-unit Vera Townhomes project (211 and 217 Vera, at the corner of Vera Avenue and Adams Street) that wrapped up in early 2023. Those projects are not alone, though: Vera Avenue seems to have become a bit of a hot spot when it comes to housing projects over the last several years. Currently, there are at least three other projects underway along Vera Avenue between El Camino Real and Red Morton Park. Just one block up from 112 Vera, for instance, is this five-unit townhouse project at 239 Vera Ave.:

Before this project got underway, there was an old, classic single-family home on the property:

As you can probably guess — given how the townhouse development is placed end-on to the street — the lot is deeper than it is wide: 75 feet wide by 155 feet deep. Plenty of room, it turns out, for a single building containing five three-story townhouses. And the units aren’t small: all right around 2,200 square feet, each with three bedrooms, an office/bonus space on the ground floor, three or three-and-a-half bathrooms, and a 500-square-foot two-car garage. As is typical for units like these, there isn’t a great deal of outdoor space: just a small entry patio, a 63-square foot second-floor deck, and what appears to be a small common outdoor space all the way at the rear of the property. But for folks who want to own their home without having to do a lot of gardening and other maintenance, a townhouse can be just the ticket. I expect to see even more small townhouse developments like these pop up throughout Redwood City as developers discover large lots with small houses on them.

Three blocks closer to Red Morton Park is what the permit indicates was to be a two-story addition to an existing one-story residence. Instead, it turned into a complete tear-down followed by the construction of an all-new two-story house. This project has been underway for a year and a half now (since the property was cleared; demolition and planning and such undoubtedly took quite a bit of time before that), and still has a way to go:

Looks to be a nice house, though!

Another three blocks down, and on the other side of the street, I’ve been watching the project at 834 Vera Ave. ever since construction fencing went up around the dilapidated old house that used to be located at that address:

The above picture was from October 2023. When I last went by, the property looked like this (also viewed from Vera, but at a different angle):

As with 239 Vera, this lot is large (12,200 square feet) but even longer and narrower: about 240 feet deep by 50 feet wide. In place of the old house from the earlier picture, today there is a large traditionally built single-story duplex (each unit having three bedrooms and two bathrooms), behind which there are two 888-square foot manufactured ADUs. Those ADUs aren’t visible from the street, since the duplex blocks their view. However, about ten months ago, before the duplex was constructed, I managed to get a picture of those two ADUs, located well to the rear of the property:

Although the look of the duplex from the street isn’t nearly as interesting as the house that was there before, it’s hard to argue with being able to house four families where only one could comfortably live before.

On the subject of manufactured ADUs (but getting away from Vera Avenue), I particularly like this one at 834 Edgewood Rd.:

This one is 609 square feet in size, and was craned onto the property (after a suitable concrete foundation was built, of course). Unlike with many properties, this ADU isn’t behind the main house, but is right next to it, out by the street. It’s nice looking (the landscaping helps) but does stand out a bit among all the large houses you typically find along Edgewood Road.

I have no concrete data, but anecdotally it feels as if remodeling activity in particular has picked up over the last several years. I presume that the high cost of housing in our part of the country, coupled with Prop 13, is keeping many people from moving to a larger house when they find themselves needing more space. Instead they are opting to just expand what they have. (With Prop 13, a remodel doesn’t trigger a complete reassessment; the value of the addition is added to the home’s existing tax base.) So you get projects like this one, at 908 Cleveland St. (which is just off Vera; I saw it while I was walking along Vera Avenue):

According to the permit, this is a 216-square-foot first floor addition and a 511-square foot second floor addition to the existing house, which you can’t actually see in the above photo; the two-story addition completely blocks the view of the little house that was there:

Remodels (and new construction) are fun to watch. I just wish I could explore the insides, as I did with my parents when I was young: back then, the projects didn’t have construction fencing, and after the work crews had left for the day my parents would often stop by a project and just wander through it, critiquing the design and getting ideas for projects of their own. Those were the days when people took responsibility for themselves, and liability lawsuits weren’t much of a thing, I gather. Ah, well…