Sobrato Aims to Build 432 Homes Near Meta HQ in Menlo Park

The Sobrato Organization aims to raze a swath of industrial buildings in Menlo Park to build more than 400 homes.

The Mountain View-based developer plans to build 432 townhomes and apartments on 8.2 acres in an area bound by Independence, Chrysler and Constitution drives, the Silicon Valley Business Journal reported. It would replace five industrial buildings.

The Menlo Park City Council is slated to consider elements of the proposal, approved by the Planning Commission late last month, on Sept. 26.

The project, dubbed 123 Independence, includes a four-story apartment complex and blocks of townhomes south of Bedwell Bayfront Park and a mile west of Meta Platforms’ headquarters.

Plans call for 116 townhomes and 316 apartments in studio, one- and two-bedroom units, of which 66 units would be set aside as affordable.

The complex would include 2,000 square feet of ground-floor offices, shops or restaurants and parking for 586 cars. Nearly 50,000 square feet would be devoted to public open space.

The T-shaped development, designed by Oakland-based Studio T Square, features a gray, white and yellow apartment complex with ample windows and similar-looking townhomes, according to renderings. They would be sheathed in cement plaster, fiber cement panels and porcelain tile. The townhomes would include brick veneer.

The Sobrato Organization, a major South Bay developer, owns more than 75 commercial properties in Silicon Valley and hundreds of acres of land throughout Santa Clara and Alameda counties, according to its website. It has bought or developed 10,000 homes and now owns 28 apartment complexes with nearly 6,500 units on the West Coast.

In June, Sobrato sold a 196,700-square-foot strip mall in Cupertino for $92.5 million. In May, its Sobrato Family Foundation paid $49.5 million for the 140-room Normandy Park Apartments at 48 and 50 Washington Street in Santa Clara.

In February, Sobrato was poised to buy the 171,000-square-foot headquarters for Athleta in San Francisco’s Embarcadero for $80 million.

— Dana Bartholomew