A downtown Menlo Park parking lot is on track to become for-sale homes. The City Council voted 5-0 on Sept. 22 to approve the subdivision map for 800 Oak Grove Avenue, the last major sign-off for a six-story building with 15 condominiums at the corner of Oak Grove Avenue and Crane Street.
What's planned
According to the city's project page, applicant Oak Grove Owner, LLC will replace a surface parking lot with the new residential building and remodel the neighboring two-story former bank into a non-medical office building with a roof deck. San Francisco YIMBY identifies the developer as Menlo Park-based Prince Street Partners, which is designing the project with Pacific Peninsula Group. Both buildings are shown with matching limestone tile, stucco and plaster exteriors.
One of the 15 homes will be set aside as a very low-income unit under the city's below-market-rate program. The city says that equals 6.5 percent of the site's base density, and the developer will pay an in-lieu fee to cover the remaining fraction of the requirement.
How it got bigger than zoning allows
The project uses state density bonus law. That lets the bank building grow past the floor area normally allowed in the zone, and it comes with waivers for the site's total floor area ratio, front and rear setbacks, and architectural projections on the residential building, the city says.
The approval path
The Planning Commission voted 7-0 on Sept. 14 to approve the architectural design and the below-market-rate housing agreement and to recommend the subdivision, which the council then approved. The site is about a block from Santa Cruz Avenue and less than a 10-minute walk from the Menlo Park Caltrain station, Hoodline reported. No construction cost or groundbreaking date has been announced.