Housing proposals arrive as Menlo Park parking lot plan faces ballot measure

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Menlo Park residents can now envision housing development on downtown city-owned parking lots now that developers have submitted three detailed proposals for review. The plans were submitted in late December after the Menlo Park City Council issued a controversial request for proposals over the objections of many downtown business owners.

The plans offer three different visions for the future of downtown, which the city council will discuss later this month.

Of course, the path to actually building the housing is anything but easy. Opponents of the parking lot development plans put forth a ballot measure that will go before city voters in November and threatened a lawsuit (which has been withdrawn but could be refiled at any time). Despite these challenges, three of the six developers that were invited to respond submitted a proposal.

Notably, Eden Housing, the only group to say building a replacement parking at no cost to the city was infeasible, did not submit a proposal.

All three proposals are very different and are from developers from vastly different backgrounds.

With concerns from business owners over the availability of parking, each developer offered a unique way to build replacement parking. However, two of the three said they would only be able to build replacement parking with financial contributions from the city.

Additionally, the types of apartments varied greatly among the proposals. One developer proposed 347 total units with 140 being affordable, another proposed an entirely affordable housing development and the third proposal includes 346 affordable units and 140 market rate units.

Proposed building height also varied, from three stories tall to as much as nine stories.

Presidio Bay Ventures

Presidio Bay Ventures is mainly a market-rate San Francisco-based developer, most known in Menlo Park for Springline, its mixed-use development on El Camino Real, and its recent purchase of the USGS campus in 2025

In its RFP, the city asked for developers to replace all 556 existing public parking spaces at no cost to the city. While Presidio Bay’s plan included 556 public parking spaces, the proposal said that the city may need to help pay for a six-story parking garage located on Lot 3, which fronts University Drive.

As for housing, Presidio Bay proposes 347 units: 207 at market rate and 140 priced below market rate for people making 80% of the area median income (AMI). San Mateo County’s AMI for 2025 was $185,700 for a family of four.

In its request, the city sought projects with at least 345 residential units for individuals earning between 15% and 80% of the AMI.

The proposed housing would be in five story-buildings, with two stories of parking spaces on lots 1 and 2, plus five stories of residential and one story of ground-level resident parking on parts of lot 3.

Presidio Bay’s proposal also includes two public parks, a few retail spaces and a common room for residents.

While the total cost of the parking garage would be $33.3 million, Presidio Bay floated the idea that at least some of the parking structure could be funded by an expected contribution to the city as part of its future USGS development. It estimated that the city would need to put up $15 million towards the parking garage development in addition to using $10 million from Presidio Bay’s anticipated community benefit contribution when it redevelops the 17-acre USGS campus.

If city officials are open to Presidio Bay retaining ownership and management of the parking garage and allowing a paid parking program, the developer could tap into additional private financing, reducing the amount of Menlo Park’s financial contribution.

Aside from the parking garage, Presidio Bay would build 101 public parking spaces and 258 residential parking spaces.

In total, Presidio Bay’s plan is estimated to cost $240.5 million for both residential and parking construction (excluding the parking garage) at no cost to the city. If the city also wants the six-story parking garage, the total project cost will increase by $33.3 million.

Alliant Communities

Alliant Communities is an affordable housing developer which previously won approval in Menlo Park to build 88 affordable housing units prioritized for teachers and school district staff after defeating a ballot measure that hoped to quash the project.

Unlike Presidio Bay, Alliant Communities said it could build all 556 replacement spaces without needing any city funding. Instead of a multi-level garage, parking spaces would be located on the ground floor of all buildings, with two additional levels of parking on sites 1 and 3.

Alliant’s plan also includes 348 long-term bike parking spaces and 113 residential parking spaces.

Alliant said it would be able to build 345 affordable housing units in a mix of unit sizes and affordability levels: 103 studios, 76 one-bedrooms, 90 two-bedrooms and 76 three-bedroom units.

Of those, 140 units will be affordable to people earning 30% of the AMI, 51 units for people making 50% AMI, six units for 60% AMI and 143 for people making 80% of the AMI. Five units would be reserved for property managers.

In total, the project is estimated to cost almost $306 million. Once the units are rented, Alliant estimates it will bring in nearly $9 million annually in rent. Alliant also expects $42,800 in laundry room income, since none of the units will have in-unit washer-dryer units.

Alta Housing and Related California

Alta Housing, a Palo Alto-based affordable housing operator, partnered with Related California, a mixed-use and affordable housing developer that has built more than 21,000 housing units in the state, to submit a proposal that includes both affordable and market-rate housing.

Alta and Related were the only developers to propose significantly more housing than the city requested. It proposed building 346 affordable apartments and 154 market rate units. The only other proposal with market-rate apartments included was Presidio Bay, which didn’t hit the city’s target number for affordable units.

Of Alta and Related’s 346 affordable units, 126 would be reserved for seniors.

The proposal also went beyond the parking requirement by proposing 574 public parking spaces in a garage on Lot 3 in addition to 253 spaces for residents. Of the residential parking, 185 would be reserved for the 154 market rate units and the other 68 parking spaces for the 346 BMR units.

However, Alta and Related have yet to figure out how to fund the parking garage and say they need to have further discussions with city officials. One option they suggested is a bond backed by the city, since municipal bonds offer lower interest rates. In total, the proposal estimates the parking garage could cost nearly $63 million. Alta and Related say they may be able to contribute between $5 million and $10 million to construction of the garage.

The developers said they aim to build the parking garage first, so downtown Menlo Park business patrons will have a place to park during construction.

As for size of the buildings, Lot 1 calls for a seven-story and an eight-story building, seven stories on Lot 2 and a nine-story building on lot 3, plus the parking garage.

Before sending the RFP, some Menlo Park City Council members were concerned that developers may be making unrealistic claims about their ability to fund the replacing parking. The council will discuss the proposals in-depth later this month.

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Arden MargulisReporter

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