New tenants sought for Cubberley

With its long-term future still in flux, Cubberley Community Center is preparing to welcome new tenants onto its sprawling campus to fill the space left behind by the departure of its largest tenant, Foothill College.

Palo Alto officials began to solicit bids earlier this week for about 39,000 square feet of space, which includes classrooms at various wings of the center at 4000 Middlefield Road. According to the details of the bid, which was posted on Tuesday, the space can be used “for office space, education, child care or services organization of nonprofit or for-profit community organization or individual(s) that would be offering community-based services to enhance the quality of life in the City of Palo Alto.”

The city’s invitation for bids comes at a time of transition for the 35-acre community center. Once the site of Cubberlely High School, which shuttered in 1979 because of falling enrollment, the center now hosts an eclectic mix of uses, includes playing fields, a theater, offices and art studios. Its largest tenant, Foothill College, announced in 2011 that it plans to leave the somewhat dilapidated Middlefield Road campus and open a new campus in Sunnyvale.

At the same time, the city and the Palo Alto Unified School District are moving ahead with a broader master plan for the entire campus, which is jointly owned by the two agencies. The city owns 8 acres of Cubberley, while the school district owns the remaining 27 acres, which it leases to the city. The two bodies agreed to renew the lease agreement for five years in November 2014, with the understanding that they will move ahead with a joint plan for how the facilities would be used.

The deadline for the bids to be submitted is Aug. 9 and the city plans to hold an open house to show the space on July 27, between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.