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Nudged by words of encouragement from Palo Alto leaders, a developer who is looking to build housing on a San Antonio Road site near the Mountain View border has greatly expanded the size, density and unit count of the proposal for the second time this year.
Yorke Lee, through his company TimeSpace Group, is now proposing to build an eight-story building with 175 apartments and commercial space at 800 San Antonio Road, near Middlefield Road, according to an application that he filed this week with the city of Palo Alto. That is significantly larger than both the 75-unit project that the city had approved for this site in 2024 and the 120-unit proposal that he pitched earlier this year, garnering largely positive reviews from a City Council that is eager to turn San Antonio into Palo Alto’s most potent housing magnet.
Located near the busy intersection of San Antonio and Middlefield Road, the 85-foot-tall project would include 28 studios, 39 one-bedroom apartments, 82 two-bedroom apartments and 26 three-bedroom apartments, as well as a two-story garage with 212 parking spaces.
The all-electric building would have a glass door leading into the lobby and 2,294 square feet of retail on the ground-floor, according to the application.
During their review of the prior proposal, which featured 120 apartments, various council members lauded Lee’s plan for 800 San Antonio, with Council member Greer Stone calling it “a great project” and saying it’s “an example of what we’re looking for.”
“It’s providing what seems to be a significant amount of new housing but at scale that’s appropriate for the area,” Stone said.
Others agreed, with Council member George Lu suggesting that he would be open to an even bigger project and Vice Mayor Vicki Veenker lauding the developer for keeping the building envelope relatively unchanged despite a sharp increase in unit count.
The council’s only quibble was over the unit composition. Lee’s initial proposal had featured 75 units, including 16 three-bedroom apartments. The revised one had 120 units with just six three-bedroom units. The new one raises that count to 26.
The TimeSpace development is part of a wave of projects that developers are pitching for San Antonio Road, an area where the city has recently loosened zoning regulations to encourage more housing. Palo Alto’s Housing Element calls for constructing about 2,000 housing units in and around the commercial corridors of south Palo Alto by 2031. That’s roughly a third of the city’s total housing allocation of 6,086 units.
To help facilitate the development, Palo Alto recently launched the creation of an area plan for this area that will explore the addition parks, retail and transportation improvements for the San Antonio area.
In addition to the TimeSpace project, the council recently reviewed a proposal for a 168-unit development from Grubb Properties on an adjacent site at 788 San Antonio Road.
City planners also have also been reviewing the application for a 295-unit project at 3997 Fabian Way, which would comply with the recently enacted zoning reforms along the commercial corridor and which they deemed to be complete in May.
The new proposal from TimeSpace calls for merging the two lots at 800 and 808 San Antonio to construct the new project, which will include two levels of underground parking.
Correction: The story was updated to more accurately reflect the status of the application for 3997 Fabian Way.
It’s time to refresh this tired old commercial corridor. Plenty of new apartments should help support the retail and other amenities that existing residents want.