The Palmer School for Boys and Girls, a Walnut Creek institution since 1939 before it abruptly shut down for good as the pandemic unfolded, will be replaced by 125 million-dollar townhouses.
SummerHill Homes won approval this week from the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors to build on the 5.9 acre site, the Mercury News reported. The two- and four-bedroom townhouses will cost between $900,000 and $1.2 million.
“We’ve been seeing a lot of different buyers on the townhome front,” said SummerHill President Chris Neighbor. “A lot of them are starting to look into suburban living and are willing to commute into work.”
SummerHill Properties is in the process of purchasing the property from Sam Mendes, the latest headmaster of the school and great-grandson of William and Elizabeth Palmer, who started it with an enrollment of five, according to SF Gate. It had 385 students in junior kindergarten through eighth grade when it shut down with little notice right after graduation in June 2020.
“The school has been devastated by the pandemic, and our program cannot be sustained in the face of the ongoing uncertainty,” Mendes said at the time. “Please know that this decision has been made with tremendous thought and counsel.”
The townhouses will be built early next year and go on sale in the summer of 2023. The developers plan to remove 74 trees, build lots for 278 vehicles and 34 bikes. Ten units will be set aside for moderate-income households.
SummerHill Homes closed on a $108M deal in January to buy 31 acres of land in San Ramon’s Bishop Ranch, where it will build three neighborhoods in the office park and retail center that will total 404 single-family and townhomes.
[Mercury News] — Gabriel Poblete
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