Station Park Green plan heads to council: Planning Commission approves 599-unit residential development

Rendering of the proposed Station Park Green mixed-use residential development near the Hayward Park Caltrain Station in San Mateo.

The long-proposed residential and retail community known as Station Park Green is closer to construction as the San Mateo Planning Commission approved the proposal to redevelop the 12-acre site at a prime intersection near the Hayward Park Caltrain Station.

EBL&S Developments plans to construct a 1-acre park and up to 599 apartments, 30,000 square feet of retail space and 15,000 square feet of office space at the corner of Delaware Street and Concar Drive were approved by the Planning Commission Tuesday night and will now be up for City Councils vote Feb. 2.

The project, which was approved in 2011 but put on hold due to financing, was amended and required EBL&S, city staff and planning officials to iron out details over the last year. The proposal outlines four main buildings with residences wrapping around an enclosed, above-ground parking structure. The former proposal called for eight, smaller buildings and increased office and retail space.

I think working together with the Planning Commission and the staff, we came up with a better project and I think its going to be a project I can be proud of. Its sort of a legacy project for me, that will be here long after I am, said Alan Talansky, EBL&S senior vice president of development and a San Mateo resident. I think what were going to be able to do is set a standard for how these villages should be at [Caltrain stations] and I think theyre important for the future transit and growth of the area.

Should the council approve the proposal, Talansky said he anticipates starting demolition within three months at the former sites of Kmart and Michaels Arts and Crafts. Construction is likely to take about two years, he added. The Shell gas station has already been demolished.

An evolving juncture

The Hayward Park Caltrain station has served as the catalyst for several redevelopment proposals including the Hines complex, which will transform 3.3 acres into 292,400 square feet of offices directly across from Station Park Green, and Caltrain plans to construct a mixed-use residential complex on 2.7 acres of its surface parking lot.

Its a prime location because it had underutilized space. You had space that was old retail, that was really not that viable for the area, Talansky said. The whole impetus comes from the corridor plan that San Mateo did several years ago, so this was asked for by the city and the citizens a long time ago.

Planning Commission Chair Rick Bonilla said the city has long sought mixed-use projects like Station Park Green since approving the Rail Corridor Plan, which promotes transit-oriented developments, in 2005.

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Station Park Green plan heads to council: Planning Commission approves 599-unit residential development