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Greenheart previews its mixed-use project The 420,000-squarefoot project would be built on El Camino at Oak Grove. ■
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By Sandy Brundage Almanac Staff Writer
On the cover: A rendering of Greenheart’s proposed mixed-use development as seen from Oak Grove Avenue in Menlo Park. The drawing shows some of the 215 apartments that would be built on the site.
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215 REN TAL HOUSING UNITS
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hile attention has been focused on what Stanford University plans to build in Menlo Park, another developer has quietly acquired the long-empty site that used to be a Cadillac dealership at 1300 El Camino Real, along with the former Derry project site. Greenheart Land Company sat down with the Almanac to unveil “the other project” — the mixeduse development of office space, retail and apartments it plans to build there on its 7 acres. Greenheart principal Steve Pierce and real estate attorney Tim Tosta came by on Oct. 30 to go over the preliminary site design. Composed of 210,000 square feet of office space and 210,000 square feet of apartments, the project would include 16,000 square feet of retail in the commercial buildings and 7,000 square feet in the residential. The office space is divided between two three-story buildings. Mr. Pierce thought likely tenants would be “walk-up services” such as insurance brokers. Retail would focus on destination restaurants and perhaps specialty food stores, he said. Designed by BAR Architects, the complex “looks more Stanford than the Stanford project,” with red tiled roofs and a Spanish flavor to the building design. For comparison, Stanford and developer John Arrillaga want to build a mixed-use complex on 8 acres of land — now mostly vacant car lots — at 300 El Camino Real with 199,500 square feet of office space, 10,000 square feet of retail, and up to 170 apartments. Unlike Stanford’s project, Greenheart’s proposal aims for the bonus level of allowed floor area ratio at 150 percent, rather than the 110 percent, which
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Greenheart Land Company prepared this layout of its proposed 420,000-square-foot office, apartment and retail development on El Camino Real.
would let the two office buildings go to three stories — 48 feet — with the top stories setback. With residences on nearby Merrill Street going up to 46 feet, Mr. Pierce said, Greenheart’s scale is in line with the surrounding neighborhood. “There will be public benefit,” he said. Greenheart plans to submit the proposal to the city this week to start the evaluation process for figuring out what the benefit could be. The residential portion of the development consists of 215 apartments with an average 825 square feet each. Sixty-seven percent will be studios or one-bedroom units; 30 percent two-bedroom apartments; and the remainder will have three bedrooms. Acknowledging that selling luxury condos in the overheated Menlo Park real estate market would be easy, Mr. Pierce said Greenheart consciously decided to go in the opposite direction with rental housing targeted at young professionals with-
out families, a demographic underserved by the city’s current housing inventory and that tends to live in Palo Alto and San Francisco instead. Also a factor in the dispersion of young workers is the city’s lack of vibrant nightlife. Greenheart hopes the retail and
restaurant aspect of its development helps correct this. The company will retain control of the complex after construction, according to Mr. Pierce. “We build it, we own, we live it.” Both he and partner Bob Burke have spent many years in the area, he said, so they looked
for projects that would add value while maintaining “a nice living environment.” The preliminary design shows three public gathering spots: an office plaza off El Camino Real that could incorporate outdoor Continued on page 10
Greenheart rendering of residential building at Oak Grove Avenue in Menlo Park. November 6, 2013 N TheAlmanacOnline.com N The Almanac N 5