Oct
07

$250MM-$300MM Mixed-Use Development slated for San Mateo

Source: The Registry Bay Area Real Estate
Author: Jon Peterson

On the heels of large development announcements and purchases in Redwood City, San Mateo now seems poised to capture the attention of the development world as it unveils a new large development in the middle of the hot Peninsula submarket.

Philadelphia-based EBL&S Development is planning the development of Station Park Green, a mixed-use apartment, office and retail development in San Mateo located at 1700 and 1790 South Delaware Street.

The large development showcases the opportunity this market has to offer as one of Bay Area’s best connected towns. “I would think that this project will have a total development cost somewhere in the range of $250 million to $300 million,” says Alan Talansky, a vice president of development for EBL&S. He works out of the company’s regional office located in San Mateo at 30 West Poplar Avenue.

The developer is now going through a design review stage but anticipates the project to kick off shortly. “We should be able to start the project sometime during the first quarter of next year,” said Talansky.

This project was first brought up for approval in 2011. It was then put on hold by the developer due to the financial circumstances brought on by the Great Recession. All the while, the developer anticipated a time when the market would recover and allow the development to commence.

EBL&S has been given the okay by the city to construct 599 apartmens, 10,000 to 15,000 square feet of commercial space, 25,000 to 30,000 square feet of retail and 2.3 acres of parks.

It’s anticipated that the first part of the development will be with the housing. “I would think that the initial part of the development will be with around half of the apartment units constructed,” said Talansky.

The vast majority of the apartments will be market-rate units. In terms of the affordable development, the project is planning to have either 15 percent affordable units, or 10 percent will be considered as low-income units. Most of the apartment units are planned to be one-bedrooms. This kind of housing should attract either single and/or young professional working couples and empty-nesters. The project will have only five three-bedroom units, which is something that the city of San Mateo had requested.

EBL&S estimates that employees of nearby companies should be attracted to the apartment portion of the development. “I believe that the employees located in the nearly 300,000 square feet 400-450 Concar office project owned by Hines located across the street and other close by office buildings should be attracted to the housing that we will be providing,” said Talansky.

Station Park Green is a transit oriented development. There will be a Caltrain stop located in the development. This will allow apartment renters to commute either to the north or south. This project has been selected as one of the first LEED-ND projects to attain Gold status.

The retail planned for the development will feature a neighborhood retail theme. This will serve the existing customers already living in the area and the new renters of the apartment project. One amenity planned for the apartments is to have six car-sharing spaces for its renters to use.

EBL&S is unsure at this time what the ownership structure of the project will be in the future. There is a possibility that traditional construction financing could be used on the project. There also is a chance that some institutional partners might be brought into the project. This could be a REIT or a private equity real estate fund.

EBL&S owns two other properties in the San Francisco Bay Area, according to its Web site. This is the Sun Microsystems Building located at 2525 North First Street in San Jose and Kmart Plaza at 1700 South Delaware in San Mateo.

San Mateo Planning Massive $250MM to $300MM Mixed-Use Development