What Bay Meadows Has In Store
Bay Meadows Station in San Mateo is ready to go on its five shovel-ready office projects—the only thing it's waiting for is a tenant. (We always forget about the people.)
The developer is getting ready to pull permits to start construction at the Delaware Street site, but a 100k SF tenant or larger first needs to sign. Millions of dollars of infrastructure work has already been completed on roads, sewage lines, sidewalks, and lighting, now Cornish & Carey's Bob Garner is on the prowl for that one tenant to kick the project off. The largest of the five buildings is 210k SF; the smallest two are 95k SF each. Mostly tech companies have shown interest, he says, but he's also talked to some law and professional services firms. He says the project needs no more than 21 months to deliver for occupancy, so the challenge is finding a tenant looking that far out. (We don't even know for sure what we'll be doing in 21 minutes.)
When built out, the project is shooting for a Hayes Valley-style retail environment, with a bocce ball court (rendered, with a man about to get hit with the ball), TRX stations, and a beer garden. The site is unique to San Mateo in that it's steps from the Caltrain. Rob says the retail portion may not wait for the start of the office buildings to get underway. There are 350 housing units near completion (Wilson Meany's building one apartment complex), so the existing community could support some retail, he says. The future buildings line Delaware Drive, which is still closed off, but the city will soon take over maintenance of the street.
About a quarter mile of a walk away is the first phase of Park Place, and Bob's handling leasing for the first phase. One of the buildings at 1200 Park Place (above) is almost fully leased to Edmodo and a tech or professional services firm is expected to fill the hole athenahealth is leaving behind next door at 1100 Park Place. While there are certain projects in San Mateo's periphery with transit issues, he says any transit-oriented and amenity-filled development gets activity.
