Developer pitches eight-story, 100-unit affordable housing project in Mountain View

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Nearly two years ago, Mountain View approved a market-rate housing project that would have replaced a Valero gas station at San Antonio Road with a five-story building of for-sale condos and ground floor commercial space.

That plan has since been scrapped, and now a new developer, CRP Affordable Housing, is proposing to instead build an eight-story, 100-unit affordable housing development.

The project at 334 San Antonio Road would include units for households earning between 30% and 70% of the area median income, with 36 one-bedroom, 28 two-bedroom and 36 three-bedroom units, that includes one manager unit, said Seth Sterneck, CRP Affordable Housing managing director.

The project is notable not just for the balanced mixed of unit sizes. The developer also does not plan on applying for city funding, making it the first affordable housing project to go this route, according to Mountain View city staff.

According to CRP Affordable Housing Director Jack Burlison, they had reached out to city representatives when acquiring the site, but were informed that funding sources were limited and that the city planned to prioritize affordable housing projects on city-owned land instead.

“We understand that funds everywhere are constrained, but we believe this project should be feasible without city funding,” Burlison said when questioned about the financing.

To pencil out the costs, CRP Affordable Housing is looking at a mix of funding sources that includes property tax exemptions and concessions and waivers that are available under California’s state density bonus law.

The requested concessions largely relate to a reduction in open space requirements, exemptions related to minimum ground floor height standards and interior storage space, as well as the removal of certain transportation demand management requirements, according to the city.

The project, which is located near major public transit, also qualifies for parking reductions. The developer is planning to build a ground-level garage with 17 parking spaces, and 100 secured bike storage spaces for residents with additional space for guest bikes.

“By not having to provide as much parking on the site, we can build more units on the site and achieve a higher density, which helps the deal pencil financially overall,” Burlison said.

The proximity to high-resource areas, like good schools, economic opportunities and mass transit, also made it an attractive site to develop, Burlison said, noting that the project was designed to appeal to a workforce that supports Mountain View.

For now, the housing will serve lower-income individuals and families. But this could change in the future if funding opportunities come up for special needs populations, Burlison said.

Working with the city of Mountain View

Although the city is not financing the project under the current plan, city officials have expressed support for the approach, with hopes that it might be a viable pathway for other affordable housing projects.

“This is a unique project, and developers are trying to find ways of making projects work when they understand that the funding across public jurisdictions is limited, as it is for the city,” said Mountain View Housing Director Wayne Chen. “I think that’s a really important piece for us.”

Still, the city has provided some suggestions for how to change the project’s architecture and landscape design so it is more welcoming for the community.

Located at the corner of San Antonio Road and California Street, the building rises eight stories high and forms a C-shape around a central courtyard. It has several vertical towers and dark enclosures – an issue that raised concerns during a public hearing with the city’s development review committee on June 5.

Committee members encouraged more open spaces with more light, plantings and softer hardscapes. They also commented on the dense massing and repetition of the vertical towers, and made suggestions to reduce the perceived scale of the project.

“The trick is to break down the scale and the math and make it feel more humane,” said Committee member Emily Jones, who provided ideas to minimize the visual impact of the towers.

Committee member Linda Poncini also pushed for more variation in the building materials. “Because the project’s affordable, doesn’t mean it has to be plain and boring. You can still do good detailing, you can do some change of materials, some change of texture that does not make it look like a tenement building,” she said.

But Shellan Rodriguez, the project applicant, noted that these kinds of changes could add up in cost. It is not just an issue of different materials but also the need to coordinate different contractors and workers on site, she said.

“There is always a push and pull to create an exterior that is aesthetically pleasing but also affordable… We’re just dealing with multiple priorities and we have to make this thing feasible,” Rodriguez said.

The estimated timeline for the project, while contingent on funding and city approval, would be approximately one year to start construction and about two years to build, according to the developer.