By Jon Peterson
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Since June 30, Windy Hill Property Ventures has purchased 11 parcels of land in downtown San Mateo in order to make the proposed project a reality. According to the Mercury News, the parcels are located between East Third Avenue, South Delaware Street, East 4th Avenue and South Claremont Street and were purchased for a combined price of $44.7 million.)
Palo Alto-based Windy Hill Property Ventures has in the works a potential new apartment development in San Mateo located at 1885 South Norfolk Street. A preliminary planning application has been submitted to the City of San Mateo earlier this year, according to the city’s website.
Windy Hill Ventures did not respond to phone calls seeking comment for this story.
The new development project is planning to deliver 312 units along the city’s waterfront. According to plans submitted by the project team, 15 percent of the units in the project would be at a very low-income level. These below-market-rate units are in accordance with the City of San Mateo BMR Ordinance and the team is requesting the use of State Density Bonus concessions and waivers as described in the State Density Bonus letter submitted with the project.
The development is also planning to have a total of 376 parking spaces in the property. The breakdown of the units is projected to be 24 studios, 188 one-bedroom and 109 two-bedroom apartments. The ground floor of the project would include residential amenities, a leasing office, mail rooms, storage, utility and parking. The upper floors would consist of residential apartments and amenities, parking and utility rooms.
Today, the property is the home of the popular family restaurant, The Fish Market. As stated in a public meeting by Windy Hill Ventures, The Fish Market is getting out of the restaurant business and is seeking a new owner to take over the project. The group that owns the restaurant currently owns both the building and the land on the site. No sale on the property has occurred at this time, which is customary at this point in time. Typically, the sale will be consummated once the approvals from the city have been received.
The site is roughly 3.18 acres, and it is bounded by South Norfolk Street on the west, Seal Slough on the east, Susan Court on the north and Fashion Island Boulevard on the South. The property is located in an area that has a mixture of real estate uses. This includes the Marina Branch of the San Mateo Public Library, Pet Club San Mateo and Therese Assisted Living. It is also near the 92 and 101 freeway interchange.
The proposal by Windy Hill includes demolishing all of the existing structures on the site and redevelopment that would deliver a five-story apartment complex. There is no timetable at this time that has been established for the project to start and be completed. Presumably, that will be guided by city approvals and market trends at the time those are completed. The City of San Mateo had indicated that it is likely potential start date for the project is more than one year away.
Windy Hill is working with BDE Architecture out of San Francisco on the design of the property. At the same time, landscape architect Guzzardo Partnership, also based in San Francisco, is assisting on that portion of the project.
