By Nancy Amdur
Retail, office and residential space may soon rise on the former Park Theater property at 1275 El Camino Real in downtown Menlo Park.
Redwood City-based Hayes Group Architects submitted an application to the city’s Planning Commission last month that outlines plans for a three-story building with ground-floor retail, second-floor office space and three residential units on the top floor. Below-grade parking also would be included.
The development would sit on nearly a half-acre on El Camino Real near Oak Grove Avenue. It would feature a contemporary design that is complementary to the surrounding neighborhood, said Jacob Kwan, an architect with Hayes Group who is working on the project. The property is owned by Los Altos-based 1275 LLC with Sean and Erik Corrigan listed as the company’s contacts on the planning document submitted to the city. Sean and Erik Corrigan did not return calls for comment.
Menlo Park’s Planning Commission is reviewing the proposal and has not yet set a date for a public meeting to discuss and take action on the plans. Initial comments and questions about the proposal can be submitted to the city through November 5. More public input will be taken throughout the planning process, said Corinna Sandmeier, an associate planner with the city.
The project falls in the city’s El Camino Real/Downtown Specific Plan area. The plan’s goals include encouraging infill development of vacant and underutilized lots along El Camino Real.
Another mixed-use project was recently proposed across the street from the former theater lot. Palo Alto-based developer Greenheart Land Co. looks to redevelop the 6.4-acre site at 1300 El Camino Real with about 200 apartments, 210,000 square feet of office and 29,000 square feet of retail space.
1275 El Camino Real became home to the city’s single-screen Park Theater in 1947. The 700-seat neighborhood movie theater, designed in the Art Deco and Art Moderne styles, operated nearly 50 years before closing in 2002. The theater was demolished in 2013.
