Condo development eyed for Country Inn Motel site in south Palo Alto | News

A new housing advancement with 55 condominiums, six townhomes and 6 accent dwelling models could go up on the southern idea of Palo Alto under a proposal remaining pitched by developer Toll Brothers.

Like many other new developers, like the prepare to replace Creekside Inn in the Barron Park neighborhood, the proposal for 4345 El Camino Genuine is banking on a conversion of the business site to “prepared dwelling zoning,” a designation that lets property builders to exceed area advancement specifications. Palo Alto introduced the new zoning designation in 2020 but has yet to see any tasks get constructed by means of the extremely discretionary method.

If permitted, the Toll Brothers undertaking would span two El Camino Actual qualities on possibly facet of Cesano Court docket, according to undertaking programs. The condominium making would exchange Nation Inn Motel on a parcel instantly upcoming to the city’s borders with Mountain Look at and Los Altos.

The other El Camino Serious parcel would element 6, a few-tale townhomes, each individual with an attached accessory dwelling unit. The residences would stand on a professional website at present occupied by Therapeutic massage Envy. The townhomes would aspect roof terraces, entrance stoops, balconies and ground-stage eco-friendly area for landscape and gardens, in accordance to the application.

“This challenge will give distinctive high-top quality buildings and areas regular with the optimum building standards of Toll Brothers,” the programs point out.

Like other “planned home zoning” tasks, this a single would exceed the city’s usual zoning principles. The condominium constructing would be about 60 toes tall, exceeding the city’s 50-foot peak restrict. And the residential density would be 56 dwellings for every acre, which is better than Palo Alto’s typical standard of 40 dwellings for high-density multifamily districts.

Although much fewer ambitious than the Creekside Inn proposal, which is composed of 382 apartments, the Toll Brothers challenge equally signifies a litmus examination for the Town Council as it considers exemptions to the city’s peak limit, which has been around considering that early 1970s.

To make the circumstance for its proposed top, Toll Brothers is pointing to similar jobs in Mountain Perspective and Los Altos, next to the undertaking web site. These include things like a 65-foot-tall household enhancement just south of the proposed condominium making, on the Mountain Perspective portion of El Camino Genuine, and a prepared 63-foot-tall housing undertaking throughout El Camino Serious, in Los Altos’ jurisdiction.

“Toll Brothers is also arguing that versatility with density regulation is “needed and prompt by personnel with the goal of providing much more housing in Palo Alto.” The 67 dwellings that the developer options to construct will “help to deal with the City’s housing demands and strengthen the City’s careers-housing harmony,” the application states.

For the reason that the sites are at this time zoned for business use, Toll Brothers would call for a zone change, which provides the council wide discretion to deny the undertaking or have to have revisions. At the same time, it is steady with the city’s exertion to rezone business and industrial sites for residential use, a important approach as Palo Alto strives to fulfill a regional mandate for 6,086 new dwellings by 2031.

The proposed dwellings would be qualified towards families. The six townhomes would just about every have a few bedrooms and an average sizing of 2,559 square toes, in accordance to undertaking programs. The six accent dwelling units would have an ordinary sizing of 420 sq. ft. The 5-tale condominium developing would have 12 1-bedroom units, 35 two-bed room models and eight a few-bed room models, according to task options.

As a “prepared home zoning” challenge, the proposal would be matter to a pre-screening hearing in front of the council. The listening to will make it possible for council associates to present initial opinions prior to the developer decides no matter whether to file a formal software.