San Mateo Strip Mall to Feature Townhomes and Apartments

Brookfield Properties is working to meet housing demand in the Bay Area with a change of plans in San Mateo.

The New York-based developer has revised its redevelopment plan for Concar Passage, a new mixed-use community at the Concar Shopping Center. The new version would cut down on retail in favor of housing, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The strip mall currently is home to businesses like Trader Joe’s, T.J. Maxx and 7-Eleven.

The new plan calls for 847 homes consisting of a mix of rental apartments and for-sale townhomes. About 186 apartments will be set aside for affordable housing.

It’s a shave from a previous proposal approved in 2020 that had called for 961 apartments at the site, including 73 affordable units. That plan also included the construction of a food hall and a daycare facility. The new plan would “bring much-needed new housing, open space and neighborhood-serving retail” to the area, Josh Roden, president of Brookfield Residential NorCal, told the Chronicle.

Brookfield plans to demolish a chunk of the shopping center’s commercial space, forcing Ross Dress for Less, T.J. Maxx and The Pantry restaurant to close or move.

The Concar Passage site is just one several retail spaces across the Bay Area that developers have floated for redevelopment.

In San Francisco, for example, Brookfield is moving forward with 3,500 new residential units on 30 acres of parking lot space at the highly trafficked Stonestown Galleria mall. About 20 percent of that housing will be below market rate.

Across the Golden Gate Bridge in Marin County, Prado Group is looking at turning a closed Macy’s store and its accompanying parking lot for potential development into housing. Last year, the city of San Rafael approved Merlone Geier Partners’ plan to build about 1,400 units at the Northgate Mall.

If Brookfield’s Concar Passage project is approved by the end of next year, construction is expected to begin in 2027 and wrap up in 2032. Under its Housing Element, San Mateo must plan for 7,015 new residential units by 2031.

— Chris Malone Méndez