Menlo Flats mixed-use housing project approved near Meta campus

Menlo Flats, an eight-story mixed-use building proposal with 158 rental units and about 15,000 square feet of office space and commercial space, was approved by the Menlo Park Planning Commission on Monday, March 28.

This is the fourth Greystar development that the city has approved in the past eight years. With the green light for the Menlo Flats project, which sits on a 1.38-acre parcel at 165 Jefferson Drive, the developer has now added or is in the process of building 1,080 rental units, all near the headquarters of Meta, formerly known as Facebook.

About 21 units at Menlo Flats will be affordable, with four units priced for very low income households, 12 units for low income households and five units for those with moderate income.

Since the developer requested an increase in height density and floor area ratio under what’s called a “bonus level development,” Greystar is required to build a community amenity such as a cafe or grocery store with the development or pay an “in-lieu fee.”

Several options for a community amenity were on the table, including a grocery store, cafe, pharmacy or urgent care center. However, the options were later deemed unfeasible because they were either already approved as an amenity for a development nearby or because the costs far exceeded the $4.4 million appraisal value of the amenity, according to Andrew Morcos, a managing director at Greystar who gave a presentation at the meeting.

The developer has instead opted to pay a $4.8 million fee which includes a 10% administrative fee.

Some commissioner members including Cynthia Harris expressed hopes for a brick-and-mortar community amenity rather than an in-lieu fee but nonetheless supported the proposal. Commissioner Chris DeCardy stressed that the city should use the funds as soon as possible.

“I really want to urge our City Council to utilize the dollars soon and to utilize it for direct benefits for the community members who are most immediately impacted,” he said.

The developer has conducted community outreach for the project since 2020, Morcos said. This included more than 6,000 flyers sent to addresses in Menlo Park and East Palo Alto neighborhoods, calls with community members and presentations to the Menlo Park Chamber of Commerce.

The planning commission on Monday approved both the project and its final environmental impact report, which concludes the state-mandated California Environmental Quality Act process. The report analyzes the project’s impact on traffic, air quality, public services and other areas.

The Sequoia Union High School District raised a couple of objections to the draft report, all revolving around the claim that it did not substantially address the impact the project will have on the district and its resources.

The project, which is located about 245 feet southwest of the district’s TIDE Academy high school, will generate about 32 new students, the school district’s attorney wrote. Since the school is anticipated to reach its 400-student capacity by 2023-24, the district claims that the Menlo Flats project, in addition to the multiple projects Greystar is developing in the area, will have “a profound negative effect on the district’s students, their families, and residents who will reside in and near the project.”

In response, LSA Associates, which authored the final impact report for Greystar, wrote that the district’s own 2020-21 budget plan showed projected increases in enrollment and that a separate study also concluded that the Menlo Flats project would not require or result in the construction of new or physically altered district facilities.

Greystar and the high school district did not respond to requests for comment from The Almanac.

Full comments and responses to the project’s report can be read here.

Greystar previously completed an apartment complex on the 3600 block of Haven Avenue in 2017, called Elan Menlo Park, which added 146 market rate apartment units.

The developers also have the Menlo Portal development on 104-110 Constitution Drive and 115 Independence Drive with 335 units as well as the Menlo Uptown project on 141 Jefferson Drive and 180-186 Constitution Drive with 441 units and 42 townhomes. Both developments are currently under construction.

Pilot’s report of ‘erratically’ flying paraglider triggers search at SLAC campusJanuary 19, 2026 11:20 am

Ownership change brings new flavors to this 70-year-old Palo Alto ice cream institutionJanuary 19, 2026 2:24 pm

Donors pony up $2.5 million to beautify Woodside Road medians9 hours ago