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Converting retail to housing is one of the pillars of Palo Alto’s plan to create a new residential neighborhood on San Antonio Road, a historically commercial corridor that borders the city of Mountain View.
The latest project to do that is 762 San Antonio Road, which received unanimous approval from the City Council on Monday evening. The lowercase H-shaped project envisions 228 new homes rising to eight stories tall, with amenities including a courtyard, fitness centers and outdoor gathering spaces on three separate floors. The project also proposes three stories of above-ground parking with spaces for 284 vehicles and 228 bikes. A loading zone for moving trucks and garbage disposal is planned for the Leghorn Street side of the structure to avoid clogging San Antonio.
The speedier approval process was due in large part to the fact that the applicant, Acclaim Companies, took advantage of new state laws that restrict local officials from outright rejecting the proposal, or from subjecting it to local zoning laws that govern height and density.
“This project represents a meaningful opportunity to evolve our property in a way that directly supports the city’s goals for the San Antonio Road Area Plan,” said Matt Hengehold, the property owner, referring to the city’s ongoing effort to create a new vision for San Antonio Road. “We hope to contribute to a more vibrant and accessible corridor for everyone.”
Hengehold operates a commercial truck sale and rental business on the site, and the business has been in his family for 75 years.
Acclaim, the developers behind another large housing development at 3150 El Camino Real, the former site of The Fish Market, submitted a preliminary application for San Antonio in January 2024. At that time, the city did not have a compliant housing planning document with the state, which means that developers could submit projects that far exceed local zoning requirements under the builder’s remedy provision of California law.
Palo Alto has seen 10 builder’s remedy projects in the time between January 2023 and August 2024, when the city’s Housing Element was finally certified by the state.
City councilmembers have long expressed their frustrations with builder’s remedy projects because it limits their ability to subject the proposals to local zoning standards. But on San Antonio Road, housing that goes bigger and taller generally aligns with the city’s vision for the corridor. Other dense housing projects that are going through the city’s pipeline include a 168-apartment complex 788 San Antonio Road; a 174-unit condominium complex at 800 San Antonio, a 25-unit plan for 824 San Antonio; and a proposal to replace Magnussen Toyota with 66 townhomes.
Prior to the council meeting on Aug. 17, the 762 San Antonio project went through two rounds of review at the Architectural Review Board, and the development team refined the design of the building accordingly — something that did not go unnoticed on the council dais.
“The modest stepback on upper floors really mitigates the additional height to a great degree,” said Councilmember Pat Burt.
In addition to the stepbacks, the building now has more glass on the side that faces San Antonio, as well as more vertical breaks on the exterior to disperse the building mass.
Project architect Chris Lee said this was done to make the development appear more residential and to better align with the city’s overarching goal for San Antonio, transforming the “high speed corridor” into one that “you can walk your dog at night, you can grab a coffee from the nearby hotel, or your kids can bike and walk to school.”
Lee also noted that the courtyard in the middle of the building faces south, allowing more light to come into the open space and the units that face it.
While the council appeared mostly supportive, one issue that arose during the meeting was the development team’s request to reduce the stepbacks on the upper floors from 10 feet to 6 feet. Lee said this is because the existing stepback would make the units on the upper floors too narrow and cramped to be marketable to future tenants.
Burt and Councilmember Keith Reckdahl proposed that the stepbacks be reduced starting at the fifth floor, where the applicant requested it start at the sixth. But Lee and the rest of the project team said starting at the fifth floor would still be unfeasible and mess with the proportions of the building.
Ultimately, Burt and Reckdahl conceded at the recommendation of City Attorney Chris Jensen, although Burt said he was “very disappointed.”
Others raised concerns about the bicycle parking capacity, which would only have room for one bike per unit, as well as the feasibility of biking along San Antonio at all.
Joan Larrabee, who lives across the street from the proposed development, noted that San Antonio is one of the city’s least safe roads.
“It’s not safe to add all these people, all these houses. My neighbors are already very worried because of the gridlock,” Larrabee told the council.
The idea to add bike lanes along San Antonio comes from the area plan and is not part of the proposal for 762 San Antonio, Planning and Development Director Jonathan Lait clarified.
He said he expects the housing project to be built long before bike lanes go in along the corridor, which prompted the council to ask staff to evaluate the feasibility of accelerating the bike lanes so they are no longer tied to the larger area plan, which is years away from final approval.
In the meantime, more housing is on the way with the City Council approval. Gary Johnson with Acclaim told the council that it will likely take more than two years to finalize the project plans and pencil out the financing, after which actual construction can begin.
“This seems to be the right place in the city for this kind of height and density,” said Councilmember Julie Lythcott-Haims.
Sure, put it where only a handful of Palo Alto residents can see it, traffic safety be damned.
For everyone out there who doesn’t like the uniform appearance of new apartment buildings, note well: the city asked for all those features!