A commercial area at the southern edge of Palo Alto that currently includes the Country Inn Motel and other businesses would make way for a townhome complex with 29 condominiums under a proposal that the City Council is scheduled to approve tonight.
The proposal from SummerHill Homes is the latest example of Palo Alto’s new streamlined approval process in action. The recently adopted process empowers the city’s planning director to approve residential projects after just one meeting in front of the Architectural Review Board. Planning Director Jonathan Lait gave the SummerHill project the green light last month.
By contrast, a prior proposal for the site that relied on the traditional review process fizzled after a generally negative review by the City Council during a “pre-screening” hearing in 2022. Pitched by Toll Brothers, that plan envisioned 55 condominiums along with six condominiums and six accessory dwelling units.
Though the SummerHill plan has already won approval from the Department of Planning and Development Services, it is required to go to the council for a technical and largely perfunctory reason. SummerHill is requesting a vesting tentative map that would allow it to create separate parcels for the 29 three-story townhomes across two lots, with 21 townhomes on one lot and eight on the other.
The council had identified this area near the Mountain View border as ripe for residential growth by including it in its housing plan. The Housing Element that the city adopted last year envisioned 43 housing units on the two lots.
The El Camino project isn’t SummerHill’s first recent venture into townhome developments in Palo Alto. In 2022, the company received the city’s approval to build 48 condominiums at 2850 West Bayshore Road. John Hickey, vice president of development at SummerHill, said last month the company has seen a great appetite from the public for townhouse projects of this sort.
“It’s a very, very popular type of housing, especially for buyers who wouldn’t be able to buy a detached home in Palo Alto but want three bedrooms or four bedrooms and to live like it’s a little bit like their own home,” Hickey said at the Feb. 26 hearing of the Planning and Transportation Commission, which swiftly and unanimously approved the company’s request for a vesting tentative map.
The project entails the demolition of a commercial building at 4334 El Camino Real, which currently includes Massage Envy, and the Country Inn Motel at 4345 El Camino Real.
According to the project plans, the SummerHill project would include five buildings. The smaller parcel at 4335 El Camino would include two buildings, each with four townhouses. Across Cesano Court, on the motel site, there would be three buildings with the other 21 townhomes.
Four of the 29 condominiums would be designated as “below-market-rate” units in the “moderate” income category, which targets households making between 80% and 120% of area median income, according to SummerHill.
Every building would be all-electric and each would be equipped with a solar system and electric car chargers in the garage, according to Austin Lin,m SummerHill’s development manager. The project includes 56 parking spaces for residents and two guest parking spots, according to a report from the Department of Planning and Development Services.
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