This story was originally printed on June 24, 2024 in the Daily Post.
Menlo Park city planners say the application for what would be the Mid-Peninsula’s tallest building at 50 stories is incomplete because it’s missing several required items.
The office and residential project at 80 Willow Road, which would replace the Sunset magazine campus, is owned by Russian businessman Vitaly Yusufov, the son of Igor Yusufov, a prominent Russian politician with close ties to Vladimir Putin.
The city deemed Saturday that the application for the project was incomplete.
“The applicant has the option to resubmit a formal development application in order to bring the application into compliance with the city’s application submittal requirements,” the city said on its website.
First of many hoops
The website said that once the city receives a resubmitted application, it will take up to 30 days to review the paperwork and determine if it contains all of the required information.
Once the application is deemed complete, the city will review the application for compliance with development standards and city requirements, the website said.
The project would consist of three buildings ranging in height from 301 feet to 446 feet, tall enough to cast a shadow on Menlo Park’s Linfield Oaks neighborhood, and clearly visible from downtown Palo Alto.
Assuming one story is 14 feet, the 446-foot building would have 50 floors.
Builder’s remedy
Yusufov is proposing the building, which exceed city height limits, because the city was late in approving a state-required housing plan. Since the city didn’t meet the deadline for the plan, state law allows developers to submit “builder’s remedy” projects that exceed city zoning limits.