Woodside Priory completes $6 million staff housing project

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People celebrate the opening of new faculty housing on the deck of one of the new apartments at Woodside Priory in Portola Valley on Oct. 26, 2021. Photo by Magali Gauthier.

After 15 months of construction, Woodside Priory School in Portola Valley celebrated the completion of new staff housing costing $6 million, last week.

Faculty and staff moved into the six homes (four with three bedroom and three baths, and two with two bedrooms and two bath) that sit at the top of Gambetta Lane on Monday, Nov. 1. The Catholic Benedictine school for grades 6-12, which offers both day and boarding school options, offered the housing at a reduced rate as a way to “support faculty and staff so that they can afford to teach and live in this area,” said Head of School Patrick Ruff in an email.

SLIDESHOW. Visitors walk to new faculty housing at Woodside Priory in Portola Valley on Oct. 26, 2021. Photo by Magali Gauthier.
SLIDESHOW. School faculty speak to attendees at a celebration of the opening of new faculty housing on the Portola Valley campus on Oct. 26, 2021. Photo by Magali Gauthier.
SLIDESHOW. A visitor walks through newly built faculty housing at Woodside Priory in Portola Valley on Oct. 26, 2021. Photo by Magali Gauthier.
SLIDESHOW. Part of the campus is visible from the window of a bedroom in the new staff and faculty housing at Woodside Priory in Portola Valley on Oct. 26, 2021. Photo by Magali Gauthier.

Construction at the 302 Portola Road school began in July 2020 and was completed in October 2021, according to Kelly Sargent, the school’s director of communications.

New staff housing at Woodside Priory School in Portola Valley opened this week. The housing is located on Gambetta Lane. Graphic by Kevin Legnon.

The on-campus housing helps satisfy the affordable housing requirement for the town of Portola Valley and brings the total of housing units on campus to 23. The school’s conditional use permit (CUP) calls for 30 units to be built on campus, Sargent said.

The school plans to demolish and rebuild another home on campus, according to Sargent. The town’s architectural & site control commission gave the go ahead to approve demolishing the unit to build new housing, said Town Manager Jeremy Dennis in an email.

David Schinski, chair of the building and grounds committee at Woodside Priory, speaks to attendees at a celebration of the opening of new faculting and staff housing on the Portola Valley campus on Oct. 26, 2021. Photo by Magali Gauthier.

Faculty and staff filled out a housing application and the housing committee, overseen by Ruff, alongside the school’s monks, reviewed the applications, Sargent said.