watrydesign.com
Aug 10 th 2026
City of Palo Alto
Department of Planning & Community Environment
250 Hamilton Avenue, 5
th floor
Palo Alto, CA 94303
Re: 375 Hamilton Avenue, Downtown Parking Garage, ARB Review Project Description
To Planning Staff and ARB Members:
Attached is the ARB submittal package for 375 Hamilton Avenue, the proposed Downtown Parking Garage. T he applicant is Watry Design Group, with Hayes Group A rchitects, on behalf of our client, the City of Palo Alto.
This package includes the site survey, contextual photos, the proposed floor plans, elevations, sectio ns, perspectives, lighting plans, landscape plans, and turning studies.
1. EXISTING CONDITIONS
The site is located at the east corner of Hamilton Avenue and Waverley Street. The rear of the site adjoins the ‘Lane 21 alley’. The surrounding vicinity is a mix of downtown retail and office uses. Southwest of the property, at 345 Hamilton, is the four-story AT&T central office. Northwest along Waverley are several one and two-story retail buildings, including historic buildings at 526 and 510 Waverley. Across Hamilton to the Southeast is the historic two-story Post Office. Across Waverley to the Northeast is the All Saints Episcopal Church. This site is more than 150 feet from any residentially zoned properties.
The zone district is PF: Public Facility. This district has no setbacks or maximum site coverage requ irements.
There is a special setback of seven feet along the Hamilton Avenue property line. There are no existing easements on the site.
The site area is 29,164 SF. The site is currently a surface-level parking lot. Arborist Report identifies eight trees on the property, including one protected Coast Live Oak.
The occupants of 526, 550 and 560 Waverley travel across this site to access the backs of their buildings and pick up trash and recycling.
2. 2018 GARAGE PROJECT
Between 2017 and 2018 the project team met several times with the Architectural Review Board to review a similar parking garage on this site. That design included five-stories + underground parking, had a r etail space at Waverley, and didn’t dedicate land for future housing. The garage featured similar design elements an d materials as our proposed project. The Architectural Review Board unanimously recommended approval of the garag e on July 19
th , 2018.
3. PROPOSED PROJECT
On April 14, 2025, Council directed staff to proceed with preliminary design and environmental review a new parking garage, featuring six levels of above-ground parking with a reserved area to allow for future construction of affordable housing.
The proposed garage shall extend to the property line at Hamilton. It will stop 46 feet from the property line at Waverley to leave a large pedestrian plaza, the site of future housing. The garage is set back at the 345 Hamilton property line to separate the two structures.
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WDI 16-138A Aug 10, 2026
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At the north property line, shared with 560 Waverley, the edge of the garage shall be ten feet back from the property line. This allows openings for natural ventilation into the parking garage, allows light to reach the existing windows at 560 Waverley, and creates a ‘paseo’ to the central stair and elevator.
Behind the Waverley retail buildings, the garage shall be sixteen feet from the property line. This allows access to the back sides of the Waverley businesses for egres s.
The parking garage shall be six stories, including parking at the roof level. Part of roof level will be covered with photovoltaic panels. The height of the structure will be 59’-11” (to the top of rail) and 68’-0” (to the top of PV). The main vehicle entry / exit shall be on Hamilton Avenue near the south corner of the lot. The primary stairs and elevator core opening into the paseo shall provide access to all levels. A second stair is also provided at the Hamilton corner. The sides of the parking garage shall be substantially open for natural ventilation.
Areas for landscaping, including planted areas and green walls, are provided at Hamilton, Waverley and the Paseo. New street trees along Hamilton and Waverle y shall be coordinated with Palo Alto Urban Forestry.
This project will be constructed to accommodate photovoltaic panels at the roof.
This ARB package includes design of the corner plaza connecting the paseo and a further development of selected building façade from preliminary ARB.
Façade of the parking garage will also incorporate Amy Landesberg’s work, who was chosen by Palo Alto’ s public art department. Art will be developed during the design of the garage.
4. PARKING & BICYCLE SPACES
This project shall include 265 total parking spaces. These include 7 Non-EV accessible spaces and 3 EV accessible spaces. A total of 42 stalls shall be provided with Electric Vehicle chargers.
A long term bike storage space shall be entered along the paseo, allowing separation of vehicular and bicycle traffic. This space shall be approximately 650 square feet and has space for about 52 bicycles, 2 cargo bikes and a bike repair station. Additional short-term bicycle storage can be provided at the sidewalk along Hamilton Avenue.
5. TRASH, COMPOST AND RECYCLING
A common refuse storage room shall be at Lane 21. This room shall be approximately 220 square feet. It will serve 560 Waverley. There is also a separate Grease Bin enclosure provided for 560 Waverly which is approximately 50 square feet.
6. GREEN BUILDING STANDARDS
This project shall satisfy requirements for the Palo Alto Energy Reach Code, New Construction.
This project shall satisfy requirements for the Palo Alto CalGreen and EnergyStar Ordinance, New Const ruction and Addition Projects greater than 10,000 square fe et.
We look forward to staff review and an Architectural Review Board hearing so that we can proceed with the development of this project.
Please call us at 408-483-4085 if you have any questions.
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Sincerely,
Gordon Knowles
Principal
Watry Design Inc.
Ken Hayes
Principal
Hayes Group Architects