New housing project bolsters city’s vision for future of San Antonio

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... Palo Alto’s plan to transform a stretch of San Antonio Road into the city’s newest residential community received a boost Monday, when the City Council reviewed and largely supported a proposal to demolish three commercial buildings and construct a 200-apartment complex next to the Mountain View border. Located just north of Middlefield Road, in an area dominated by commercial and industrial uses, the proposed building at 720 San Antonio would feature parking and other amenities on the bottom two floors and apartments on the upper six floors. It would also include a fitness room, a pool lounge and a club room, according to project applicant. And in a nod to the recent shifts in work habits, the apartment complex will also include a co-working space. “The co-working space is for the residents to do the work from home in this new era,” said John Kosi, principal at BDE Architecture, which designed the project. “They can have meetings there, there will be different offices there, they will have all the stuff they need to really run their business when they’re working from home.” The City Council got its first look at the project at a Nov. 9 prescreening session, a public hearing that gives city leaders a chance to give early feedback before a formal application is filed. The response was overwhelmingly positive, with council members generally concurring that the project is consistent with the city’s overall vision for San Antonio. That said, some members took issue with the lack of ground-floor retail in the project and suggested that the new development should have more parking, more spaces for rideshare and delivery vehicles and more affordable-housing units. As proposed, the building would have 217 parking spaces for cars, fewer than the 276 that would be required under the zoning code. It would also include 148 spaces for bikes. Proposed by High Street Residential, the 89-foot-tall complex would include 113 one-bedroom units, 44 two-bedroom units, 25 studios and 18 three-bedroom units, according to the plans. These include 30 below-market-rate units: 18 for households with very-low incomes and 12 for those with moderate incomes. The project at 720 San Antonio is the latest in a wave of residential proposals that the city has been reviewing in the rapidly changing area next to the Mountain View border. The city is also now reviewing proposals for a 168-apartment complex at 788 San Antonio Road; a 174-unit complex at 800 San Antonio; and a 25-unit complex for 824 San Antonio. It is also considering a proposal to replace Magnussen Toyota with 66 townhomes. Concurrently, the city is advancing a new vision document known as the San Antonio Road Area Plan that will lay out development standards for the area and propose strategies for adding parks, retail and transportation improvements to the new residential community. Brian Schmidt, vice president of High Street Residential, wrote that the primary focus of the project is “to increase the capacity of housing in an area that is mainly low-density commercial, directly tying into the goals of the proposed San Antonio Road Area Plan” and to help the city meet its housing goals. The new development would replace three commercial buildings, including the one that currently houses Crossroads Specialty Market. “It’s a well occupied but ultimately underutilized site and one that doesn’t reflect the vision of the San Antonio Road Area Plan.” Schmidt said. For the council, the onrush of San Antonio housing project is both a sign of success and a planning headache. On the one hand, builders are rushing to fulfill the city’s vision. On the other, that vision is still coming into focus and it’s not clear whether the new developments fully reflect it. Councilmember Julie Lythcott-Haims alluded to this dilemma on Monday, even as they generally lauded the project for being perfectly appropriate for the San Antonio area. “You’re coming forward now, which is wonderful, but the San Antonio area plan process is underway and not complete,” Lythcott-Haims said. “It’s sort of like you’re approaching the tarmac and we’re still building the airport, which is terrifying but also exciting. “We know we’ll get there, we just want to be deliberate and thoughtful about your project in the context of everything else to come.” To enable the project, the developer is seeking a zone change from commercial to “planned home zoning,” a designation that allows residential use and that gives the city ample leverage to demand revisions. Several councilmembers took the opportunity to request changes. Councilman Ed Lauing said he would like to see more below-market-rate units. Councilmembers Pat Burt and Keith Reckdahl both suggested including a retail component in the new development. “I’m concerned that we’re developing or approving projects because they’re coming forward before the San Antonio Road Area Plan and undermining whatever requirements we might put in place on ground-floor retail,” Burt said. Reckdahl said he generally support the project but concurred that ground-floor retail is “essential in this area.” “We don’t want to have a retail desert here, so I really think we do need to have some way to put in ground-floor retail here,” Reckdahl said. “That’s going to be an asset for people who live here and also in the neighborhood.” Most Popular Palo Alto's historic Squire House hits market for $19.9M November 6, 2026 6:03 pm Stanford looks to build 8-story housing complex at Research Park November 6, 2026 12:26 pm Around Town: Emergency assistance, billionaire tax November 8, 2026 9:01 am