An office-to-housing redevelopment in San Mateo is among the developments helping to reach state-mandated housing goals in cities across the Bay Area.

O’Farrell Development and DNA Design and Architecture proposed the 87-unit apartment project, the San Francisco Business Times reported. 

The site at 1919 O’Farrell Street spans less than an acre and has a low-rise office building and surface parking. The development is slated to rise seven stories and include one- and two-bedroom units and a rooftop deck. 

In San Mateo, diminished office demand and heightened need for housing make projects like these increasingly meaningful in meeting housing element requirements. Approximately 20 percent of office space in San Mateo is considered functionally obsolete, meaning more demolitions could come in the future. 

San Mateo is on the hook for 7,015 new homes by 2031 under its housing element. 

Office-to-residential redevelopments are becoming common across the Peninsula. 

Presidio Bay Ventures acquired the former U.S. Geological Survey campus in Menlo Park earlier this year for $137 million. That property includes 17 office, research and laboratory buildings spanning 412,700 square feet on 17.4 acres. 

Harvest Properties bought the 22-acre, 379,600-square-foot Clearview Business Park in San Mateo for $102 million last month. The offices at those sites are expected to be redeveloped into housing, in the largest office redevelopment in the Peninsula proposed this year. 

Meanwhile, apartment construction has fallen off dramatically, with apartment starts in the Bay Area dropping from more than 3,000 in a typical quarter to only a few hundred. 

Across the country, 542,800 units were under construction at the end of the second quarter, marking the lowest level in a decade, according to RealPage data cited by the Business Times. 

High borrowing costs and pricey labor and materials are forcing developers to slam the brakes for projects already entitled or proposed.

There are a few Peninsula cities, however, that could provide multifamily developers some hope. In Daly City, developers started construction on the enclave’s first market-rate apartment project in 15 years, which will replace a former Burlington Coat Factory at Westlake Shopping Center with a 214-unit residential complex. 

South San Francisco, meanwhile, is seeing an increase in construction activity as compact, mixed-use areas become more attractive to developers and residents.  

— Chris Malone Méndez

Read more

Housing construction drops to post-pandemic low 

Harvest Properties, Stockbridge snap up San Mateo office park for $102M

Presidio Bay clinches $137M deal for Menlo Park federal campus