| News - Friday, June 8, 2012
Prometheus proposes nearly 1,000 new apartments
by Daniel DeBolt
After a decade almost exclusively developing ownership housing, the city is being flooded with proposals to develop nearly 1,500 apartments. The shift in the real estate market has one developer alone preparing to build 926 new apartments at five sites in Mountain View.
Prometheus Real Estate Group is already under construction on the first apartment building in Mountain View in years, 203 units at the former Minton's Lumber site located at 455 West Evelyn Ave. The development and property management firm has four other projects in the pipeline as well.
Safeway on California Street at Pachetti Way is set to move by next year to a site under construction at El Camino Real and San Antonio Road. Prometheus has proposed to replace it with two apartment buildings totaling 306 units, each of which wraps around a courtyard, one with a pool.
The project was criticized in November by the Environmental Planning Commission and residents of the nearby Crossings neighborhood in November for its size and for being surrounded by parking lots, which have since been moved underground. But the basic building design, which was called "monolithic" by Commissioner Kathy Trontell, remains the same, scaling from three stories at Pachetti Way to four and then five stories moving towards San Antonio Road.
A commercial building on the site near San Antonio Road that houses a dentist, dry cleaner, hair salon and Planned Parenthood clinic would remain. The City Council may vote on the project this fall.
Prometheus is planning a less controversial project at 111 North Rengstorff, having received unanimous support from the Environmental Planning Commission. The Northpark Apartment complex would see 134 new apartment units, while 50 older units would be removed. The new units would be as high as three stories with underground parking. City Council approval is still needed, however.
Two other projects are still in early planning stages, 100 Moffett Blvd. and 1720-1730 West El Camino Real.
On Moffett Boulevard, a county social services building could be replaced by a 193-unit Prometheus apartment building. It would have similar open space and amenities to what's under construction now on Evelyn Avenue, said Prometheus' Nathan Tuttle this week. The project would have subterranean parking and scale from two stories at the rear to three stories and then four along Moffett and Central expressway.
On El Camino Real, 173 apartments have been proposed to replace Western Appliance and the Tropicana Hotel. The site could see two buildings rising from two stories at the rear to four along El Camino Real, with underground parking, said city planner Scott Plambaeck. The current zoning for the 1.39-acre site allows 97 units, or 70 per acre.
If the City Council approves, the city may soon begin charging a new fee on such development equal to three percent of the project's value. The council on Tuesday, June 5, voted 5-1 to begin a study of such a fee.
Email Daniel DeBolt at ddebolt@mv-voice.com | 
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