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REDWOOD CITY’S MONTHLY MAGAZINE
HIGH-RISES ON HORIZON
FOR REDWOOD CITY
S
Redwood City’s precise plan calls for high-density
housing in downtown and along El Camino Real
The long-awaited plan to improve housing,
entertainment and scenery in downtown
Redwood City seems to be precisely
what the doctor ordered for everyone in the
community — except one longtime property
owner.
The Precise Plan would establish guidelines for
new development in the city’s core area from El
Camino Real to Veterans Boulevard. The plan
would set up a wedding-cake–like arrangement
with the tallest structures standing 12 stories
around the heart of downtown, gradually
descending to the smallest buildings around the
periphery.
At least one property owner is upset with the
project, however. Joseph Carcione, who owns a
law office on the edge of the proposed development
area, filed an appeal against the project’s
environmental report, claiming that shadows
from the taller buildings will be cast upon his
office all day.
The construction will include 2,500–3,700 new
residential units that will be installed downtown
after approval of the plan, which would
change zoning laws for some of downtown’s
districts from commercial only to commercial
and residential zones. Additionally,
275,000–600,000 square feet of office space,
221,000–295,000 square feet of retail space
and 200 more hotel rooms will be added.
The plan also aims to provide a park-your-caronce
experience in which pedestrians will flood
the area, integrating transit from all areas of
downtown to nearby Sequoia Station and
improving the area’s ambiance by presenting a
purely urban setting. Years from now, city plan-
ners envision Redwood City being one of the
premier entertainment destinations of the mid-
Peninsula.
“The goal is to make an exciting and vibrant
downtown where people can live, work and get
entertainment 24 hours a day,” said Tom
Passanisi, community development services
manager.
Developers have been licking their chops for
the Precise Plan to be approved so they can
begin constructing residential complexes on the
property of six buildings that have been vacant
for three to eight years. Housing is so much
more profitable than commercial buildings, it
would be more cost effective to wait and build
rather than rent out current apartments and
buy out residents before expanding. The buildings
have gone wasted for years awaiting
approval of the plan, said John Anagnostou, a
major player in Redwood City development.
Anagnostou predicts that at least six cranes will
appear downtown in the next year and a half to
build high-rise buildings on the vacant buildings’
properties. The only confirmed bid is the
Renaissance Project, an eight-story residential
development. Once the Precise Plan is
approved, developers will be lining up to submit
plans to expand upon at least 12 different
buildings total, Anagnostou said.
“There’s a quiet before the storm right now,”
Anagnostou said. “The Precise Plan is a wonderful
planning tool to help take the town to
the next level, and not just on the physical level
— I mean quality of life, prestige, coolness factor.”
Carcione maintained that the constant shadows
would negatively affect his property but
the City Council denied his alternative plan
Feb. 26 that would have changed the nearby
setup so shadows would hit an area across the
street from his office. Carcione said the battle
isn’t over and that a lawsuit is a possibility.
Carcione spent $10,000 for a shadow study
that he said “fell on deaf ears” of the council.
He has owned property in Redwood City for 30
years and has donated so much money to the
community that his name appears inside historic
Courthouse Square. He made clear that he
thinks the plan will progress the city as a whole
but doesn’t want his personal rights as a property
owner to be impinged upon in the process.
“The ends don’t always justify the means and
right now my name happens to be the means,”
Carcione said. “They’re kind of stepping on me
a little bit. [Being in the shadows] is a terrible
place to be. We have windows for a reason, to
let the sunshine in.”
The city didn’t see it as such a big problem.
“City staff believes shadowing does not have a
significant impact and that you are going to
have shadows in a downtown regardless [of its
planning],” Passanisi said.
Because the Carcione property’s zoning area
will allow residential development when the
plan is approved, he believes his law offices will
eventually become apartment buildings
because they are more profitable.
To make the buildings more attractive from a
pedestrian standpoint, regulations will be made
for how wide storefronts can be. Facades will
also have to be up to code and street walls will
have to be in 100-foot increments to keep a
rhythm among the buildings. Clearly definable
gateways — or downtown entrance points —
will also be added. The design is meant to tailor
to the urban settings in major metropolitan
areas while still relating to the fabric of the
downtown’s history, said Charles Jany, project
planner for Redwood City.
“The plan promotes an urban environment,”
Jany said. “It’s not a suburban model; it’s a traditional
urban environment that has buildings
that have traditional forms of architecture and
bring back the feeling that Redwood City is the
capital of the region.”
Other than the funding for constructing the
actual plan, the long-term effects from the construction
won’t cost the city any money,
Passanisi said. He added that no specific construction
plans will be named until at least midor
late-April.
“This is a dream come true to have this Precise
Plan,” Anagnostou said. “It’s going to really create
an interesting skyline in our downtown. I
want to live there and I want to see great musicians
and successful entrepreneurs living there
also.”
Editor’s note: This article first appeared in the
Daily Journal newspaper.
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