Menlo Park City Council last night (Sept. 29) decided not to approve the controversial 80 Willow Road skyscraper under a timeline set by the project’s developer and the Attorney General’s office.
Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office sent the city a letter on July 28 saying the city improperly changed its reasons for rejecting developer Oisin Heneghan’s proposal for 665 apartments, a hotel, office space and a preschool across three towers, with the tallest going up to 461 feet or 39 stories.
The property is owned by Russian billionaire Vitaly Yusufov, the son of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s energy minister, Igor Yusufov.
Bonta’s letter and a follow up letter from Heneghan asserted the council must approve the project without further review by Oct. 27.
“The City Council believes it is important to get this right, even if there are financial consequences and service impacts for the city that may be triggered by our effort to vindicate out rights and protect the Menlo Park community,” Mayor Betsy Nash said.
Doherty said that council “respectfully disagrees” with the AG’s analysis. Since receiving the AG’s letter, city officials have been researching and analyzing the issues raised in the letter.
Nash said the council is “united in its position” that the AG’s letter is incorrect.
“The AG issued its opinion without having the benefit of the city’s extensive knowledge of the property and the history of the development application, and without once inquiring with the city about the background of the application. The council strongly opposes approval of the project under the terms in the AG’s letter. This massive commercial development would severely compound infrastructure challenges in Menlo Park, endanger emergency services’ response times, and exacerbate the existing jobs-housing imbalance. The project does not deliver the housing that Menlo Park needs, contrary to the very purpose of the Builder’s Remedy law,” Nash said.
The Builder’s Remedy is a provision in state law provision that lets housing developers bypass local zoning, height, and density rules when a city fails to adopt a compliant state housing plan. In this case, it has resulted in plans for a 39-story tower, far in excess of what neighborhood zoning would allow.
Last week, the Post reported that Congressman Sam Liccardo asked the U.S. Department of Treasury yesterday to look into potential sanctions against 80 Willow Road property owner Vitaly Yusufov and his father. A sanctions designation could stop development of Yusufov’s 39-story tower at the former Sunset Magazine headquarters in Menlo Park.
“Public sources raise serious questions about Vitaly Yusufov’s ties to the Russian government and individuals linked to organized crime, warranting immediate review by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS), and, ultimately, consideration for sanctions,” Liccardo said in his letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Vitaly Yusufov bought the seven-acre property in 2019 through his LLC, Willow Project. He plans to develop the site into 665 apartments, a hotel, office space and a preschool across three towers, with the tallest going up to 461 feet.
Yusufov faces sanctions in Ukraine, while his father, former Russian Energy Minister under Russian President Vladimir Putin, Igor Yusufov, also faces sanctions in Ukraine and in Canada.
Liccardo argues in his letter that because the property is in Silicon Valley, with many major tech companies in the vicinity, Yusufov and other possible owners should be looked into due to national security concerns.
A representative from Bessent’s office declined to comment on Liccardo’s letter.
• Sept. 24: Liccardo calls for sanctions on Sunset property owner
• Sept. 18: Sanctions would stop the 39-story Sunset tower
• Aug. 3: Developer threatens city over Sunset project
• April 25, 2025: In a win for developers, council isn’t supporting bill to rein-in Builder’s Remedy
• Opinion: Palo Alto should sponsor bill to combat huge Builder’s Remedy developments
• Aug. 12, 2024: Few applicants for city council seats, one of them has no opinion on Sunset Towers
Thank you for reporting on this. Menlo Park must stop this obscene and dangerous project, while moving ahead with reasonable efforts to provide affordable housing in support of a more diverse community.
Unfortunately, sanctions won’t prevent another developer from buying the property and submitting the same plans. The developer in this case is one problem and the law is the other.
Finally. Bonta needs to get out of his office and actually see how his rigidity defies common sense instead of rejecting all appeals all the time while forbidding ALL discussion / reconsideration / evidence for 8 long ridiculous years.