Developer proposes 129-unit affordable housing project in Palo Alto

Palo Alto, which has struggled to meet affordable housing goals, could get more than 100 below-market rate apartments along its busy El Camino Real corridor.

San Jose’s Charities Housing filed plans this week to build 129 apartments for low-income residents in Palo Alto’s Ventura neighborhood, according to Palo Alto Online. The project at 3001-3017 El Camino Real would replace two vacant commercial buildings formerly occupied by a bike shop and a parking lot, the news outlet said.

It would consist of units ranging from studios to three bedrooms and a 1,500-square-foot community area on its ground floor, including a kitchen, pantry, laundry room and offices for social service providers.

While Charities hasn’t determined the exact affordability mix for the project, it expects residents to earn about 40 percent of the local median income, or $42,350 a person. The most in monthly rent that the nonprofit developer can charge to people with that annual income is $1,058 for a studio and $1,512 for a three-bedroom, according to the California Code of Regulations.

Palo Alto, like much of the Bay Area, has struggled to meet its housing targets, especially in the low-income and very low-income categories. The city approved 80 homes for those categories between 2015 and 2019, just 7 percent of its obligations under the Bay Area’s regional housing needs allocation process, according to a recent Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury report. The grand jury recommended that Palo Alto accelerate its planning process, identify additional ways to fund the creation of more affordable homes and consider enacting so-called area plans, which typically involve substantial zoning changes.

The city’s only significant 100 percent affordable housing project in recent years is a 59-unit apartment complex at 3705 El Camino Real that’s now being built, Palo Alto Online said. Charities’ proposal is two blocks from the busy intersection of El Camino Real and Page Mill Road. It’s also less than a mile from a Caltrain station, making it eligible for unlimited density under state law, Palo Alto Online said. While it’s near transit, the project provides more than 100 parking spaces in its garage and 142 bike stalls.

Charities is the second developer to try its hand at redeveloping the former Mike’s Bikes site. The Sobrato Organization proposed in 2017 to build 50 apartments and about 2,000 square feet of room for shops and restaurants before withdrawing its plans.

[Palo Alto Online] — Matthew Niksa

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