SummerHill Homes Buys Palo Alto Sites With Housing Plans

SummerHill Homes is ramping up its housing construction plans in Palo Alto.

The San Ramon-based developer bought two properties at 4335 and 4345 West El Camino Real in Palo Alto for $18 million with its eyes on a proposed 29-unit townhome community, the Silicon Valley Business Journal reported.

The seller was Cesano Incorporated, a family-owned entity that has operated the Country Inn Motel at 4345 West El Camino Real and the neighboring building which housed a Massage Envy for decades, according to state and county records cited by the Business Journal.

Cesano and SummerHill agreed to the sale in 2024. SummerHill submitted a proposal for the site that same year after Toll Brothers tossed out plans to build 67 townhomes at the site. The City of Palo Alto approved SummerHill’s tentative map for the project, advancing the proposal closer toward entitlements. The Country Inn Motel closed its doors last August, and the Massage Envy parlor is also closed.

SummerHill’s plans call for 29 townhome-style condominiums across five three-story buildings. The developer named the community Cesano Court Townhomes after Cesano Court, the street that divides the two properties. The firm is looking to demolish the commercial buildings later this month and begin building the residences this fall.

Elsewhere in Palo Alto, SummerHill pursued another townhome development on a site that previously housed commercial property. In 2022, the firm bought 2.4 acres at 2850 West Bayshore Road for $27.5 million with plans to demolish the 32,400-square-foot office building there and replace it with 48 townhomes across eight six-unit buildings.

Farther south in Silicon Valley, SummerHill submitted a preliminary application last summer with the City of Santa Clara to build 292 townhome-style condominiums at a 15-acre vacant property at 3625 Peterson Way. And last October, SummerHill completed its purchase of the Los Gatos Lodge in Los Gatos for $78.4 million. The developer plans to knock down the 128-room lodge and convert the site into a 155-unit residential community with 28 three-story attached buildings.

— Chris Malone Méndez