BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer
Palo Alto City Council is worried about developers proposing large apartment buildings around San Antonio Road before the city has a plan for the area.
Brian Schmidt, a VP at High Street Residential, presented plans tonight (Nov. 9) for 200 apartments in a building reaching 89 feet in height at 720 San Antonio Road.
Council members said Schmidt should include retail space on the ground floor.
“As we’re building this new neighborhood, we have a really important question of: What are the services going to be that are pedestrian-oriented?” Councilman Pat Burt said at the meeting.
Burt and Councilman Keith Reckdahl had some concerns about the height of the building, which is 1.5 times the size of the Oshman Family JCC.
“It’s also going to be massive,” Reckdahl said.
Council members Julie Lytchott-Haims and George Lu were fine with the height.
Tonight’s meeting was for council to give feedback on the proposal before a formal application. None of the neighbors were at the meeting.
The city has also received applications for 228 apartments at 762 San Antonio Road, 167 apartments at 788 San Antonio Road and 175 apartments at 800 San Antonio Road. All of the proposals are eight stories.
A block further, developers want to build 273 apartments at 3997 Fabian Way and 66 townhomes at 690 San Antonio Road.
The city is working on a plan to add bike lanes and parks in the area, but the plan won’t be done until 2028.
Lots of empty apartments on San Antonio. Traffic gridlock.