Another new apartment development in Redwood City is moving along the path to completion.
Tuesday, the San Ramon-based development firm SummerHill Apartment Communities revealed the design of the new 141-unit community that will soon occupy the former site of Mel's Bowl at 2580 El Camino Real in Redwood City. KTGY Group is the architect for the new community.
The parties say they chose a special name for the apartment community that is "a nod to the site's past" and how it once housed a beloved local bowling alley - "The Lane On the Boulevard."
In a press release Tuesday KTGY and SummerHill said the 141 apartments will be "architecturally distinctive, wrap-style buildings" of three and four stories, featuring one- and two-bedroom apartments that are between 705 to 1,106 square feet.
Amenities will include "convenient resident access via same-level parking, a clubroom, a fitness studio, a swimming pool with spa, an outdoor kitchen and fireplace, bicycle storage, and a pedestrian path surrounding the property."
"The apartment homes will be energy- and water-efficient and will include gourmet kitchens with stainless steel appliances and European-style cabinetry, and in-unit washers and dryers," representatives said. "The Lane apartment community will include alternative transportation amenities such as bicycle storage facilities, electric vehicle charging stations and provisions for car-sharing vehicles."
The project's lead designer, Jessica Musick, said the community will target "young professionals working in Redwood City as well as surrounding upscale communities such as Palo Alto or Menlo Park, who want to live close to work but can’t afford the price tag that comes with a Palo Alto or Menlo Park zip code."
Redwood City Mayor Alicia Aguirre told Patch she is particularly excited that The Lane On the Boulevard will include five "median-income units."
Following San Mateo County Housing and Urban Development (HUD) guidelines, the special units will be rented to singles or families who make between 80 and 100 percent of the HUD income limits set forth for 2013.
The income range for a single person is between $59,100 and $73,875 annually. The range for a family of four is between $84,400 and $105,500 annually.
See a table of HUD's income limits for special housing online here, or in the downloadable PDF document included in the photos section of this article.
Mayor Aguirre also praised the project's design and said how glad she is that the community is close by a service-rich area full of shops, restaurants and public transportation.
"We’re really excited about this new development. It’s an excellent design - something we might call 'urban sophisticated' – and it’s designed to be a good fit with the surrounding neighborhood," she said. "It includes some nice, wider sidewalks, and a small public plaza-like area at the front, making good use of the Hetch Hetchy water pipeline right-of-way."
"These 141 new units will be a very nice addition to our rapidly-expanding housing stock in Redwood City," she added.
SummerHill representatives also said they plan to make a wide range of community improvements in addition to those within their own 2.51 acres.
"The scope of the project includes improvements to surrounding sidewalks, the El Camino Real and Northumberland Street intersection, and storefront upgrades for six nearby property owners and tenants," Musick noted.
"El Camino Real has been a focus for development for many Peninsula cities, and KTGY is happy to be part of several developments shaping this historic street," said KTGY Principal Architect David Senden. "This project really exemplifies the goals of the Grand Boulevard Initiative.”
The Grand Boulevard Initiative is a regional collaboration dedicated to the revitalization of the El Camino Corridor as it runs through San Mateo and Santa Clara counties.
Redwood City Planning Commission Chairman Ernie Schmidt said he is also pleased with the upcoming project.
"I believe that anytime we can make available residential units that are not only close to downtown, but walkable to restaurants, stores and transportation, that is a good thing," he told Patch.
According to KTGY and SummerHill, pre-leasing is expected to begin in early 2014, and the first apartment homes are slated to open in summer 2014.
Prospective residents will be able to visit www.shapartments.com for more information about The Lane On the Boulevard once pre-leasing begins.
See an artist's rendering of the design for The Lane On the Boulevard in the photos section above.
PATCH WANTS TO KNOW - What do you think of the new development? Tell us in the comments below.
Also on RedwoodCity-Woodside Patch:
- '201 Marshall' Will Feature 116 Apartments Designed for Commuters
- Redwood City Real Estate: SOLD
- Bike Sharing Program Coming to Redwood City
- Man Who Tricked Local Elderly Into Giving Him Money Arrested
- Electronic Arts' CEO Resigns Amid Missed Revenue Goals
- 12 Arrested for Buying Alcohol for Minors
Stay informed on the latest news and events in your local neighborhood - follow Patch!
Sign up for Redwood City-Woodside Patch’s daily newsletter
"Like” us on Facebook
"Follow” us on Twitter
Want to share your opinions with the communities of Redwood City and Woodside? Start your own blog here.
I wouldn't be surprized if the affordable housing requirements included the soon to be low income residents living in the new jail.
How about "A Room with a View of My Happy Place"
That's the same thing my invisible internet girlfriend said.
And it's really a shame that the mayor is this excited about five median-income units. As mayor she should realize that "median income" means something very different in San Mateo County than it does elsewhere, meaning that those precious few units will still be out of the reach of the large majority of working people. It's a nice token but it doesn't address RWC's need for affordable units. On page 41 of the City's own five-year consolidated plan, it states: "There is a high to critical priority need for affordable housing. The highest need is for the lowest-income groups. Housing market trends support this as a high need, with the need for housing affordable to extremely low‐income households the highest need" http://www.redwoodcity.org/phed/housing/pdf/RWC_ConPlan.pdf Mel's Bowl doesn't address this acknowledged need at all, as ORWC expressed to the City Council repeatedly in meetings over a year ago.
It's similar to "Frontier VIllage" in San Jose. Bulldozed and made into condos. But the developer was "kind" enough to name the condos after the park. At least people got enjoyment out of the bowling alley...
Five was enough for the city to approve.
The diffrence is in the standard that the developers are held.
the day. do you know how old you have to be to even have bowled there ? once again redwood city.... tacky.
Precisely.
Bowling is an activity done inbetween ordering drinks. I always wondered if the watered down $2 highballs were standardized for bowling alleys by Brunswick. I grew up near Woodside Bowl and people always came wobbling out of that place.
San Francisco has always played by their own rules and most construction projects are revamping existing structures as apposed to new.
Yes and no. Since (as I mentioned before) most SF projects are to existing structures they already collect their taxes on that location and it can't effectively be used as a bargining point for a "take it or leave it" development so the city doesn't risk losing any substantual tax revenue, only permit and compliance fees (generally). On the peninsula, for a ground up project the developer has the leverage to tell the city/county it will locate it's project elsewhere unless it's costs (construction/taxes) are acceptable. The city/county usually complies in order to secure the revenue.
The projects that incorporate much more elaborate designs are the public projects (ones that were funded mostly by stimulus money), or large corporate facilities used by them. There were many times when I reviewed a school improvement project and said "How do they justify the expense of the high end asthetic materials for this?" It is justified by the fact the projects funding is predetermined so they spend it all.
Big commercial contracting is a very competitive business. In order to get jobs you need to be the low bidder (always) and that usually means bidding a project and hope you get it and don't go broke and starve when you do. If you land 1 in 50 bids you are doing pretty good. So initial bids are below basement pricing with the hopes their will be enough change orders during construction that you can make some profit. So the easy answer for cost overruns usually occurs because of construction changes. The worst nightmare for an ongoing project? Uncovering an ancient burial site.