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Commission seeking more community input for new 420-unit apartment building
Rendering of the 420-unit apartment building at 1855 Rollins Road in Burlingame
A five-story, 420-unit apartment building at 1855 to 1881 Rollins Road in Burlingame is in its design review as the developers work with the Planning Commission to encapsulate a more community feel for the area as it transforms into a new neighborhood just south of the Millbrae border.
The developers presented an updated project review that included an updated building design, an additional parcel spur purchased from Pacific Union Railroad that allows for better fire road access, landscaping design and details including the community benefits.
The units will be arranged around three courtyards, and a public plaza is shown at the corner of the lot bordered by Rollins Road and a drainage canal. Plans also indicate a 9,300-square-foot lobby and amenities building on the 4.7-acre parcel.
Commissioner John Schmid said he liked the direction the project is headed.
“The new parcel in the back has allowed for the circle around the property and I think it’s functioning better,” Schmid .
Overall, the commissioners are seeking a new community feel. They are suggesting a larger retail presence on the ground floor, perhaps even a market. The design also needs to be more inviting and create a better sense of community so the new residents don’t feel isolated.
Developer Hanover Company requested to build a larger structure than ordinarily allowed by the city in exchange for providing “community benefits,” which could be 35 below-market-rate units, based on 80% of San Mateo County’s area median income for 55 years, plus amenities open to the public, and an upgrade to the El Portal Creek canal wall that will consider future flood preventions and include an access easement for the city.
The affordable unit types will be designated at the time of the building permit application and must reflect the mix of unit types proposed for the overall project, per the staff report.
Additional community benefits include a coffee kiosk and plaza on Broderick and Rollins Road and a dog park. Scott Youdall, regional development partner for Hanover Company said the intent behind it is to help activate the pedestrian corner.
“The public space is just a wide sidewalk from my perspective so I don’t see it as a huge amenity,” Commissioner Chris Horan said.
Additionally, Commissioner Sean Lowenthall feels like the community benefit is not enough. He is concerned that a coffee kiosk won’t be sufficient for the thousands of people who will be living in the area.
“You have In-N-Out, a Mexican restaurant, a gas station, there’s not a lot there. I am concerned we are putting thousands of folks on top of each other without really a supermarket or a retail spot,” Lowenthall said.
The 652,000-square-foot building would be attached to a 544-spot parking garage equipped with 420 electric vehicle charging spaces, one for each unit, including 50 studios, 233 one-bedroom units, 119 two-bedroom units and 18 three-bedroom units. Unit sizes range from approximately 545 square feet to 1,550 square feet. Additionally, the building will supply 232 bike parking spaces.
Lowenthall suggested the parking ratio which is 1.3 spaces per unit is too many spaces for a complex so close to the Millbrae intermodal train and BART station.
Directly on the other side of the canal, in Millbrae, a 570,000-square-foot biotech campus designed for more than 2,000 employees was approved last year.
“I’m not sure they are taking into account the future context of that street, with the Alexandria biotech campus going up right next door, it’s going to be 120-130 feet tall so this building is going to be dwarfed by its neighbor in the future,” Horan said.
Burlingame and Millbrae are both transforming the area, near the Millbrae Caltrain and BART, into an urban walkable neighborhood, with housing, biotech and retail on the Millbrae side and large residential buildings in Burlingame. The Burlingame portion of the neighborhood is expected to bring in well over 1,200 new residents.
The design review, density bonuses and approval of community bonuses was approved by the commission 5-0-1.
650-344-5200 ext. 105
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