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A developer is a step closer to adding hundreds of new homes to an existing apartment complex in Mountain View, a plan that has been in the works for years and previously sparked opposition from residents concerned about the project’s environmental impacts.
AvalonBay Communities presented an update on 555. W. Middlefield Road at a public hearing Wednesday afternoon, as part of an application to subdivide the 14.5-acre site into three lots. Two of the lots are slated to get 323 units of additional housing while the third lot has been set aside as a 1.34-acre public park.
AvalonBay intends to retain all 404 existing apartments on the property, nearly doubling the amount of housing with three new residential buildings comprised of 226 apartments and 97 condominiums.
Located between Moffett Boulevard and State Route 85, the Middlefield property is surrounded mostly by one- and two-story apartment and condo complexes, as well as commercial businesses, including the nearby Moffett Plaza shopping center. However, the city is looking to encourage major growth in the area with zoning updates to allow for more residential density.
At the March 4 meeting, Mountain View’s subdivision committee unanimously recommended that the project’s “vesting tentative map” move forward to the City Council for approval. The committee did not discuss the development itself, which is expected to be presented to the council on March 24.
“We’re not talking about the project today,” Assistant Community Development Director Amber Blizinski said. “We’re just making a recommendation on the map.”
Project updates, parking plan changes
Back in 2022, when the City Council originally approved the Middlefield project, there was a lot of community pushback against it. At the time, residents voiced concerns about the impacts of construction, which was projected to take years. They also pressed the council to protect more heritage trees from being cut down.
Ultimately, council members supported the project, noting that in addition to the new housing, there were other valuable community benefits, like the park space.
Since then, AvalonBay has applied to make revisions to the project, although it is mostly still similar to what the city had originally approved, according to Charlie Koch, an AvalonBay representative.
“An important part of the project as approved is to not result in any displacement and to minimize disturbance to those existing residents throughout the construction,” Koch said.
AvalonBay intends to demolish most of the surface parking areas on the property, as well as the tennis and basketball courts, pool, spa, clubhouse and leasing office, according to a Feb. 24 report from an AvalonBay consultant.
In its place, AvalonBay plans to construct two apartment buildings, of four- and five-stories, and one four-story condominium building. Of the 323 new homes, 48 are slated to be set aside as affordable units for lower-income households, according to the report. The numbers have not changed from the original proposal.
A major modification to the project however is the parking. In the original plan, AvalonBay proposed three new underground garages. The report now describes two above-ground garages, with one of these extending a half-level below ground. The apartments will wrap around the garages to conceal them from public view while the condos will have surface parking lots.
AvalonBay is planning for 851 total parking spaces, which is less than the 921 spots originally proposed, according to the updated application.
“The main reason why we came back with a new project proposal is because below-grade parking is extremely expensive to build and that project was not financially feasible,” Koch said.
Project plans also show AvalonBay will remove 49 heritage trees to make way for the redevelopment, which is equivalent to what was originally proposed.
I always laugh at their delusional renderings. This one has brick lined streets.
Moffett Plaza is also slated to be turned into a 7-story apartment complex.
At least the 555. W. Middlefield Road project will retain its legacy housing. There are too many other projects that are replacing affordably-priced housing with much more expensive housing, such as at 777 W Middlefield Road. Yes, there are more units, but the new rents are out of reach of the earlier tenants who are getting displaced. Supply & demand is broken: a greater supply of more units no longer means lower prices, due to the hyper high cost of construction, etc.
Avalon claims that the project will have only a minimal impact on traffic based on a 2022 traffic study conducted during the COVID period, when traffic volumes were significantly lower than they are today.
However, the project has since changed substantially. The Block C building has increased from four stories to five stories, and the only entrance to the 500+ space parking structure has been relocated to the end of Cypress Point Drive. Cypress Point Drive is a narrow and long dead-end street with only one point of access, and it is already filled with street parking.
Under these conditions, it is difficult to understand how the traffic impact can still be considered minimal. If that is truly the case, updated traffic data reflecting current conditions should be provided to demonstrate it.