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It has been more than five years since Mountain View hit pause on its gatekeeper hearings. Now it is back in business, with two new developments given the green light to proceed with proposals that don’t comply with the city’s regular guidelines.
Presidio Bay Ventures, a real estate investment and development firm, is proposing to build a mixed-use community of housing, office and retail at Charleston Plaza at 2400-2470 E. Charleston Road. It plans to replace mostly vacant big-box retail stores with four seven-story residences, two eight-story offices and a seven-story garage, while also adding a central plaza and a park.
U-Haul, a moving and storage rental company, has a very different kind of development waiting in the wings. It is planning to replace its existing commercial building at 62 W. El Camino Real with a five-story self-storage facility that includes some retail.
Both projects came before the City Council at its “gatekeeper” hearing on Tuesday, Sept. 10, during which the city decides whether to allow projects to move forward even when they don’t comply with current land use and zoning regulations.
In a 6-1 vote, the council approved the Presidio Bay Ventures development to proceed as a gatekeeper application, with Council member Lisa Matichak in opposition to it.
In a split 4-3 vote, the council also approved the U-Haul gatekeeper application, with Council members Allison Hicks, Ellen Kamei and Matichak casting the dissenting votes.
Charleston Plaza
For years, Charleston Plaza was a go-to destination for big-box retail shopping, just off Highway 101 in Mountain View. In 2021, the site faced a retail exodus, as Best Buy, REI and Bed Bath and Beyond shut down their stores.
The nearly 11-acre site, zoned for commercial and industrial uses, has one remaining big-box store, PetSmart, a multi-tenant retail building and a 300,000 square foot parking lot.
In its place, Presidio Bay Ventures wants to build a mixed-use community with hundreds of homes and a lot of office space, as well as some retail. It is proposing to build seven-story residences that will include 350 apartments and 100 for-sale condos. The two eight-story office buildings also have a big footprint, with 450,000 square feet dedicated to research and development and commercial space.
Presidio Bay Ventures is including below-market rate housing as part of the mix, meeting the city’s requirements while also offering $1,750,000 in lieu fees to support other affordable housing developments in Mountain View.
The mixed-use project is a pivot from what was originally proposed for the site, according to Cyrus Sanandaji, Presidio Bay Ventures founder and manager, who presented the proposal to the City Council on Tuesday.
The company took over Charleston Plaza in 2022, after the retail exodus, Sanandaji said. At the time, Presidio Bay Ventures planned on converting the site to just offices and research and development. But then it saw an opportunity to develop a more complete neighborhood, similar to what it was doing in other parts of the Bay Area, like at Springline in Menlo Park, Sanandaji said.
“In light of the housing element and the need for the city to actually deliver on that housing promise, we recognize that this opportunity was too great to pass on, and really wanted to take that chance and come forth once the gatekeeper opened up,” Sanandaji said.
Sanandaji also said that the development is providing net positive housing, even with its large office presence. If it were to develop only housing, then the project would be infeasible, he said.
“In order to actually have a project that can be built, we pursued a balanced approach of both commercial and residential, with the idea that there’s ancillary benefits,” Sanandaji said, referring to the synergy of making sites attractive to the entire community, with retail, family housing and office space.
Council members expressed support for the project overall, which they saw as offering a lot of community benefits, not just in respect to housing but also other big-ticket items, like a child care center, a public gym and opportunities for small businesses to set up shop.
In respect to PetSmart, Sanandaji said he recognized the value it provided for the community and was open to offering similar services, although likely would not retain the same big-box retail presence at the site.
Still, there were concerns over the amount of work the project would entail for city staff. This was the reason Matichak opposed both gatekeeper applications, noting that even if contract employees were hired, it still would create a big burden for staff – an issue that came up five years ago and led to the suspension of the gatekeeper hearings altogether.
Council members also cited concerns that a gatekeeper project, if approved, might not deliver on the community benefits it originally proposed.
Once legislative changes are made for a gatekeeper project, allowing it to circumvent particular land use or zoning rules, it is difficult to regulate what happens afterwards, said Mountain View Assistant Community Development Director Amber Blizinski.
Still, if there are substantial changes, then a project could come back to the City Council for reauthorization, according to city staff.
U-Haul
The U-Haul project, while more modest in scale and scope than Charleston Plaza, still has big plans for its 1.5-acre site near the corner of El Camino Real and state Highway 237. The company is looking to build a five-story personal storage facility, replacing its existing commercial building, which has been in business for more than 40 years.
The plan is to convert the small commercial building and parking lot, which covers most of the site, into an approximately 107,000 square foot storage facility that has a ground floor showroom and some retail.
As a community benefit, U-Haul initially offered $150,000, but then bumped it up to $590,000 a day before the gatekeeper hearing convened.
For some Council members, however, the project did not rise to the level of what gatekeepers typically offer as community benefits.
“I feel that what was proposed does not go above and beyond at this time, and the initial community benefit, while has increased, with initially $150,000, I believe that is not a significant amount with which to go through our gatekeeper process,” Council member Ellen Kamei said. “We need to be asking all large companies for the same thing, no matter the size of the project,” she added.
Council members also pressed for more information about U-Haul’s environmental sustainability goals, and how these would be incorporated into the building’s design and use.
The project needs more work to improve it and fit in with the rest of the neighborhood, Council member Alison Hicks said, proposing that the applicant defer its gatekeeper submission for another year.
But ultimately the application squeaked by, gaining support from Mayor Showalter and Council members Margaret Abe-Koga, Emily Ann Ramos and Lucas Ramirez.
Abe-Koga said she supported the project, as it was a long-time business in a part of the city that likely was not very attractive for housing, given its location at a busy traffic intersection. The building also could serve as a noise buffer for the nearby residences, she said.
Ramos expressed her support for U-Haul for other reasons, noting that it might seem like a small project, when compared to Charleston Plaza, but it still was important.
“When you submit a gatekeeper, it’s almost like you’re submitting your dream and your vision for our city,” Ramos said, while also adding that the project could be improved upon.
“I don’t know if it has the votes to make it through this round. I think what you’re going to be hearing from me and the rest of my colleagues, the dream of yours is still precious but we want you to dream bigger,” she said.
