1 NEIGHBORHOOD MEETING SUMMARY
ADDRESS: Station Park Green
430 Station Park Circle #100
San Mateo, CA 94402
APN: 035-200-220
PLANNING
APPLICATION:
Specific Plan Amendment to Station Park Green Specific Plan
PROJECT
LOCATION:
Within an existing Station Park Green mixed-use building at Northwest corner of S. Delaware Street and Concar Drive
MEETING
DATE/TIME:
Wednesday, March 19, 2025 from 6 to 7 PM
MEETING
LOCATION:
Virtual Zoom meeting
ZOOM LINK:
Zoom Link Passcode: hLths%4u
MEETING
RECORDING LINK:
Zoom Link Passcode: hLths%4u
ATTENDEES:
12 members of the community signed in during the one-hour meeting
APPLICANTS
AND/OR TEAM:
Chris Kober, Vice President – Essex Property Trust, Inc.
Katia Kamangar – Consultant to Essex Property Trust, Inc.
PURPOSE OF MEETING:
Neighborhood meeting for residents living within 1,000-foot radius of Station Park Green. The purpose was to share information about the proposed plans to convert vacant retail space in the building to office use, to describe the associated landscape enhancements, discuss timeline and parking, and to offer an opportunity for residents to ask questions and provide feedback and comments.
INTRODUCTION:
Chris Kober and Katia Kamangar opened the meeting and presented the proposed project, including a vicinity map, a site plan, and several renderings of the proposed exterior and landscape enhancements. The Station Park Green apartments were constructed in 2018 and the ground floor retail space has struggled to attract and retain tenants. The proposal is to amend the Station Park Green Specific Plan to permit some of the long-vacant retail to be converted to office use to help activate the currently dark and empty spaces along Concar and S. Delaware streets. The Essex 2 team also invited everyone to come visit an open house with refreshments the following week at the Community Room at Station Park Green (March 25th from 5 to 7 pm) and to see the space San Mateo residents can use, free of charge, by reserving the space via email at [email protected].
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS:
1. Q. When will the update happen? Please keep it clean during work.
A. Project construction will likely occur next year (2026) after project approvals. We will pay attention to keep the community clean as we go.
2. Q. For the 1,400 businesses approached, what was the most popular reasons that they did not want to rent retail space in Station Park Green?
A. The main reasons were lack of parking in front of the businesses, and lack of significant foot traffic (compared to downtown as an example).
3. Q. For the employees that will be working at SPF , where will they park? Are they going to be using the retail parking?
A. They will park in the garage that exists in the building. There are sufficient spaces in this garage to account for both the office and the retail uses so the parking would be done with off-street parking within the garage.
4. Q. Please ask Bay Club and Crunch to either appreciate the gym we have or keep Starbucks here, thank you.
A. We acknowledged that having Starbucks here was great but unfortunately they vacated the space before their lease ended. We hope to get another coffee shop here.
5. Q. We appreciate the upgraded CalTrain and SamTrans are quite an asset also.
A. We agree that those are both amenities that both the residents and office employees will benefit from.
6. Q. Will this affect the price per unit; I currently pay $3,500 per month?
A. As mentioned during the presentation, questions related to property repair or rent related matters will be deferred to the leasing team to address, if needed.
7. Q. With the influx of employees, one major concern is traffic jam. How do you manage that? Currently the Station Park Green circle is often occupied by delivery vehicles and it’s already sometimes hard to get around.
A. The project benefits from excellent nearby freeway access. At any given day, there would be about 40 to 50 people here given a flexible work schedule. People are not arriving nor 3 departing at a given time. Traffic was studied as part of original project approvals and will be studied under city guidance again for this application.
8. Q. There are 46 retail parking spaces. Are there other parking spaces in the building not being used?
A. Yes, in fact, in the original entitlements some ground floor and some upstairs parking spaces were allocated for office and retail use. Those will all be part of what’s available.
9. Q. USPS is our next door neighbor; we all appreciate upgrades, please.
A. The post office is part of federal government so it’s not something we control. We are not aware of any plans related to the post office but can try to find out.
10. Q. Will Foster City Essex be included?
A. Essex team asked for added clarification on this question but none was noted.
11. Q. Security has always been an issue, package theft has been plaguing SPG, we need extra security measures to protect the residence area. Are there any plans to do that?
A. No response but attendees were told that these types of questions/comments would be forwarded to the leasing & property management teams as feedback and to address.
12. Q. Will Essex be upgrading the plaza also?
A. Yes, as part of the proposal, Essex will upgrade the corner plaza with new furniture, string lights and upgraded landscaping. Goal is to refresh this space and to hopefully attract a restaurant or café type of tenant here, next to Beach Hut Deli.
13. Q. The structure by Beach Hut Deli was projected to be a water structure; will that return?
A. Yes, it is a water retention area so that rainwater collected on site goes into this area that we have as a planter. The landscaping is the aesthetic part of it and the functional part is that the water goes back into the water table so it doesn’t run off into the Bay. So that part exists today and will remain in function going forward.
14. Q. Thanks for the help.
A. n/a
15. Q. See you next week, thanks again.
A. n/a
16. Q. What happens next?
4 A. The next step in the process is the formal application to the city for the proposal.
Whenever there’s an amendment to the specific plan, as the first step we do a neighborhood meeting to introduce the project. The step after that is the filing of the application itself. The application will be reviewed by the city and go through the formal public hearing process of the planning commission and city council later this year. After that there will be tenant improvements (“TI”s), improvements inside the building spaces, and those will occur next year. City will notify residents of relevant hearings.
17. Q. Please unlock the sales office. They sealed it off three years ago. It is linked to Snowflake?
A. n/a
18. Q. Please address funnel leasing website leaving and bringing OnSite back.
A. No response as unrelated to the proposal but attendees were told that these types of questions/comments would be forwarded to the leasing & property management teams.
19. Q. Azara is the other apartment home site that has been damaged by City Hall of San Mateo. We pay dearly to be treated better. Thank you.
A. No response as unrelated to the proposal.