Redwood City's downtown: The race is on to build office buildings

Redwood City has so many applications for office complexes that they would exceed what's allowed downtown if all are approved.

So the City Council, which capped development when it adopted a downtown precise plan in January 2011, is scheduled to discuss the quandary at its meeting Monday.

The precise plan allows for a total of 500,000 square feet of new office space. The city is adding 100,000 square feet to that sum by deducting office space that has been demolished to make way for new residential projects, Community Development Director Aaron Aknin said.

Half of the 600,000 square feet will be taken up by a two-building office complex under construction at Jefferson and Middlefield avenues, called Crossing 900.

Last month, the city received five office development applications totaling approximately 489,000 square feet. Also proposed but not yet submitted are plans to build a 100,000-square-foot office complex and to expand an office building, Aknin said.

When the precise plan was approved, Redwood City's downtown office vacancy rate was 12.5 percent, so the ceiling that was set then seemed reasonable. Because of the improving economy, however, demand for office space boomed and the vacancy rate now is just 4.4 percent, according to a staff memo.

Redwood City has become an attractive option because it is halfway between San Jose and San Francisco, has a downtown Caltrain station, and "land costs aren't as high as Menlo Park or Palo Alto," Aknin said.

The city didn't anticipate getting five large office projects applications within a month, so is asking the council for direction on how to prioritize them.

The proposals include a mixed-use development at 2075 Broadway that envisions 175,000 square feet of offices, a building with 128,875 square feet of offices at 601 Marshall St., a 69,846-square-foot office project at 550 Allerton St., a mixed-use building with 54,743 square feet of offices at 815 Hamilton St., and a 60,750-square-foot office building at 30 California St., according to the staff memo.

Aknin speculated that the rush to submit applications last month may have been due to developers' recognition of the office development limit.

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Redwood City's downtown: The race is on to build office buildings