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Four months after buying the distinct California Avenue building that once housed Bank of the West, the new property owner is pitching an ambitious proposal: demolishing it and constructing a much larger and splasher development with a market, two restaurants and five stories of housing.
Distinguished by the “breeze block” decorations at its front façade, the stucco building at 414 California Ave. has been vacant since 2022, when Bank of the West moved out. Silicon Valley Bank had plans to move in and renovate the building before it spectacularly collapsed in 2023.
In January, a newly created entity called 414 California LLC bought the property, which has an assessed value of $4.35 million, according to the Santa Clara County Assessor’s Office. Bridget Algee, chief marketing officer for 414 California, told this publication that her team is excited about the opportunity to enhance California Avenue, which became car-free during the pandemic. Last month, city contractors installed planters and green bike lanes near the El Camino entrance to the car-free strip. Broader changes, including additional streetscape improvements, a new monument sign and various branding features, are coming soon.
“What does it mean to have a community space like Cal Ave. that has residential use, that has commercial use that brings people here? It’s now a pedestrian street, so how do we build architecture that really plays into that?” Algee asked.
The answer is to come up with a design that combines indoors and outdoors. Drawings of the proposed project show a bronze-tinted façade with units arranged in a lattice configuration that makes one think of a honeycomb. It’s also a nod to Palo Alto’s past. Project architects said they were inspired by designs from Ohlone baskets.
Zoltan Pali, project architect, noted that every designer of multi-family projects has to find a way to stack apartments. He tried to mitigate the massing effect by cladding the building in a “diaphanous veil” and providing balconies around the entire perimeter. Each unit will have shutters, Pali said, so the occupants will get define what it looks like at any given time by opening and closing them, a subtle feature that will create variation in light and color.
“It’s a dynamic design,” Pali said.
The building, he said, combines elements from two distinct traditions — European architecture and Ohlone motifs – to achieve a distinct look.
“Whenever you do that, you’re going to get something different,” Pali said. “You’re not going to get a stack of boxes piled on top of each other because that’s not what you’re trying to achieve.”
The 75-foot-tall building would feature 37 apartments: 10 studios, 11 one-bedroom units, eight two-bedroom units and eight three-bedroom units. Units will be furnished with balconies and, in some cases, private rooftop decks. The third level will also feature a courtyard garden, according to project plans.
Most of the units would be sold at market rate, though there will be some affordable units in accordance with the city’s inclusionary-housing laws. The application has not yet been filed, and Pali said his team is working with the city to figure out exactly what the below-market-rate component of the building would look like.
He noted, however, that the units will range widely in size and type, with the idea of attracting a broad range of residents. Some will be as large as 2,400 square feet.
“It’s a wide array,” Pali said. “The idea is to attract a wide demographic, to make it a building that’s really about the urban fabric.”
The project team unveiled the proposal to the local community at a May 14 reception, where dozens of visitors partook in snacks and refreshments in the parking lot next to the building. If the project moves ahead, much of this lot will be taken over by the new building, though Algee said the landscape plan calls for creating green open space areas for the public at the periphery.
The project team faces a long road ahead. Because the project does not comply with zoning regulations, it would require a zone change, which means the City Council will have wide discretion over the project’s future. Unlike some of Palo Alto’s other large development proposals — including the 382-unit project proposed by Redco Development for the Molle Stone’s site at 156 California Ave – the project at 414 California Avenue will not be able to rely on “builder’s remedy” to override local objections. Even after approval, construction would take several years.
The project team is eager to start the process. Pali said his team has already presented the plans to city staff and it plans to file an application in short order.
Among visitors, the reception was mixed but mostly positive. Dona Rose, who lives at Palo Alto Central, a condominium community at the other end of the California Avenue strip, said she wished the proposed building wasn’t so much higher than the structures around it. But resident Greg Hood gave the design high marks and said he wished that the building was even taller and had larger plazas and more open space.
“The question is, ‘Do we want to be a city or do we want to be a town?’” Hood said. “Do we want to be a town with seven-story buildings or do we want to be a regional city, which Palo Alto should probably be?”
Sahlik Khan, chief operating officer at Zareen’s Restaurant, was even more bullish on development. He said he is excited about the building attracting new life to California Avenue.
“Any new bold idea will always have some pushback and will always have some naysayers,” Khan said. “I think it will be better in the long run.”
