History/Timeline of the Chess Hatch Site
2006
In February 2006, the City Council via Minute Order No. 970 approved the Land Use and Circulation Element Goals, Policies and Implementation Measures relevant to the Chess Drive/Hatch Drive Commercial–Industrial Areas to encourage:
• Redevelopment of underutilized properties with increased density and intensity of uses;
• Allow and encourage change that responds to the current and potential market and employee needs of businesses and that results in greater density and intensity of land uses and a broad array of land uses including commercial, office, industrial, biotechnology and compatible uses, but prohibiting uses that would be incompatible with any of these uses, such as housing, schools, day care and other uses serving primarily children;
• Allow and encourage vertically and horizontally mixed -use developments that maximize the use of land, organize land uses and pedestrian/vehicular circulation in a safe, logical and functional manner and establish a safe, logical design relationship with adjacent land uses;
• Ensure that all new buildings, whether free- standing or multi -building developments and all expansions of existing buildings demonstrate consistency with the City’s infrastructure, including sewer, storm water, and street system capacity; and
• Ensure that all existing and new businesses and land uses allowed met the requirements of Chapter 17.68, General Performance Standards, of Title 17, Zoning, of the Foster City Municipal Code.
2007
On October 23, 2007, Northwestern Mutual Life and Sea Cliff Properties ( “prior applicant/original owners”) submitted an application for a General Plan Amendment to adopt the Chess Drive/Hatch Drive Commercial/Industrial Area Policies into the General Plan, a GDP/Rezoning from M -1/PD (Light Industrial/Planned Development) to CM/PD (Commercial Mix/Planned Development District) with a GDP and a Development Agreement to redevelop 190,000 SF of one and two-story commercial/industrial buildings on 11.89 acres with up to 800,000 SF of office use in three (3) multi-story buildings up to 10 stories in height above four levels of parking served by a combination of at -grade parking lots and a shared parking structure (“original project”).
2009
On March 5, 2009, the application was amended to include a General Plan Amendment to create a new General Plan land use designation of “Chess/Hatch Research/Office” to be consistent with the Chess Drive/Hatch Drive Commercial/Industrial Area policies and uses.
On November 2, 2009, the City Council certified the Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR) (SCH #2008122065, EA -07-001) and adopted a Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program (MMRP) for the o riginal project pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Additionally, on November 2, 2009, the City Council approved an amend ment to its General Plan to designate the land use for the site as Chess/Hatch Office Research.
2011
On January 24, 2011, the prior applicant submitted a proposal to revise the o riginal project, substituting five (5) multi-story structures and one (1) single-story structure for the three (3) previously proposed multi-story structures.
2013
On August 19, 2013, the City Council adopted an Addendum to the original FEIR dated February 19, 2013 pursuant to CEQA via Resolution No. 2013-64.
On September 3, 2013, the City Council approved a Master Development Agreement (“Master DA”) to develop the Chess Hatch Master Plan on the Chess/Hatch Property via City Ordinance No. 574.
Additionally, on September 3, 2013, the City Council approved an amendment to the zoning map for the Chess Hatch Property, changing the zoning designation to CM/PD (Commercial Mix/Planned Development). The Council also approved a GDP to allow up to 800,000 SF of office, biotechnology, or research and development uses on the Chess- Hatch Property via City Ordinance No. 573.
2014
On September 11, 2014, the Master DA was recorded with the County of San Mateo, as Document No. 2014-082572, with an initial term of five (5) years through 2019.
On April 17, 2014, the Planning Commission approved the Use Permit/Specific Development Plan (UP-13-004 and EA-07-001B) to allow the demolition of nine (9) office buildings comprising 146,000 SF of development and construction of 600,000 SF of office development area and up to 5,000 SF of business supporting use in two (2) towers and a connector building, and construction of two (2) multi-story parking garages. 2015
On September 1, 2015, the original owners assigned their interest as Developers in the Development Agreement to Gilead.
2019
On January 8, 2019, Gilead paid the Extension Option Payment to the City in the amount of $4.3M and have vested development rights extended through 2024. The City signed a Memorandum of Extension, extending the Initial Term of the Master DA to expire on September 7, 2024.
2023
On June 23, 2023, Gilead submitted an application to extend the Chess Hatch DA without making any changes to the GDP. Staff engaged in some preliminary discussions with the Gilead team regarding the terms of the extension. However, Gilead decided not to pursue the extension to the DA, and on February 28, 2024, Gilead withdrew its application. They indicated that they’d like to move forward with the project instead. 2024
On September 7, 2024, both the Use Permit as well as the Master DA expired.