REDWOOD CITY — The massive project to transform the city’s Caltrain station area into a mixed-use transit district is one step closer to reality after the council gave final approval to development guidelines at the downtown site.
In three unanimous votes on Monday — with councilmember Jeff Gee recused — council members voted to move forward with plans to redevelop the aging 70s-era Sequoia Station strip mall and surrounding area to build new apartments, hotels, retail shops and office space set to create another vibrant, walkable section of Redwood City’s revitalized downtown.
When initially envisioned in 2019, the transformative project to redevelop the Sequoia Station shopping center included a 17-story office building — the tallest ever proposed in the city — surrounded by similarly tall buildings, including three 10-story buildings and two eight-story buildings.
While the current proposal won’t see buildings going above 8 to 12 stories, housing advocates and the city’s council were united in praising the transit district plan, touting its plan to connect downtown to neighborhoods west of the Caltrain tracks with pedestrian and bike-friendly spaces and the more than 1,000 homes proposed for the site.
The proposed new transit district — which would have less office space and the ability to build more housing — would also help realize the city’s housing goals. The estimated 1,100 residential units include 165 to 220 deed-restricted affordable units. The office uses would require in-lieu fees totaling $29 million or about 123 deed-restricted affordable homes.
Those units will go a long way in the city’s goal to build 4,588 new units by 2031 as part of a statewide plan to end homelessness.
- A map showing the area of the Transit District Redwood City council members approved on Monday.
Courtesy: City of Redwood City
YIMBY Action National Organizing Director Leora Tanjuatco Ross praised the project during her comments to the council Monday, expressing her “full-throated support” for the transit district. She said the city should consider maximizing the amount of housing that can be built on the site.
“I talk to people who like to walk up and down Broadway when it’s hopping at night and they say they wish that downtown Redwood City were bigger and that there were more walkable communities they could walk around,” Ross said. “This project will enhance the current community, making sure people have places to go and to live. We’re 100% in support of the housing.”
Matt Regan of the Bay Area Council said the transit district is “exactly the kind of forward-thinking planning we need, not only to solve our housing crisis but also our transit systems which are facing a financial cliff.”
Council members similarly supported the plan, including Alicia Aguirre who said she’s happy to see an area of town that has historically been “underutilized” get a new life.
“I remember when anyone could park over at Perry Street lot because no one was ever around,” she said. “Now to make it a vibrant bus depot, it’s exciting for people who have lived here for a while.”
Aguirre cautioned that the city should be conscious of east-west connections in the area that give pedestrians and bikers priority while making sure traffic doesn’t get backed up.
Councilmember Lissette Espinoza Garnica said it’s “really special” the plan includes so much housing, including hundreds of affordable units for low-income people. She said she hopes the area becomes like Redwood City’s Santana Row — “for its walkability, maybe not its bougieness.”
“I want to have this feeling that everyone is welcome regardless of income or age,” Espinoza Garnica said. “I remember growing up, my mom would tell me all the time ‘you’re not allowed to go to Sequoia Station, especially at night, because it’s dangerous.’ A lot of my friends didn’t have anywhere to go so what they would do is hang out in Safeway when there were tables there. I think a lot of people from a lot of different backgrounds have a lot to look forward to.”
