Affordable Units Soon to Quadruple

REDWOOD CITY, CA—A mixed-use development in downtown will have the first substantial slate of affordable units to be delivered within the downtown precise plan and quadruple the number of affordable units completed under the plan to date. Located at the intersection of Diller Street and El Camino Real at 1409 El Camino Real, the future project will also encompass a range of market-rate residences and retail space. The development broke ground in July and is slated to open in 2021, according to developer, Greystar.

“This mixed-use community will aid in alleviating the region’s housing imbalance and shortage,” Ali Warner, managing director of Greystar, Northern California and Pacific Northwest, tells GlobeSt.com. “This is an important milestone for the Redwood City community.”

This announcement comes on the heels of Greystar opening a new corporate office in Redwood City, located on Main Street. To better respond to, understand, and meet the city’s and community’s needs, the new Greystar office will host community events such as barbecues and community meetings. This new office will provide Greystar with a location to meet community members and prospective residents with the goal of gaining feedback, and discussing current and future projects.

“It has been exciting for us to be a part of Redwood City’s vision for downtown,” said Warner.

The mixed-use community will introduce 35 affordable units among a total of 350 residences and approximately 2,500 square feet of retail space. The residences will be a short walk to downtown, the Redwood City Caltrain station, and two major grocery stores, a Safeway located at Sequoia Station and a Whole Foods located on El Camino Real and Jefferson. In addition to these neighboring amenities, the residents will be in close proximity to local employers including Box, McKinsey, Stanford University, Oracle, Kaiser, Electronic Arts, Facebook, Visa, Gilead, PlayStation, Sony and HP.

“As we continue to see healthy job growth and major employers setting roots across the greater Bay Area, we strive to deliver walkable transit-oriented communities across the growing Silicon Valley market to alleviate the region’s housing shortage, and jobs and housing imbalance,” said Jonathan Fearn, senior director of development at Greystar, Northern California.

According to the US Census Bureau, the median family income in San Mateo County for a one-person household is $75,400, a two-person household is $86,150, a three-person household is $96,950 and a four-person household is $107,700. The average apartment rents in the county are $1,797 for a studio, $2,357 for a one-bedroom apartment and $2,974 for a two-bedroom unit, according to CoStar (May 2017).