A developer who owns a property next to the California Avenue Caltrain station is preparing to advance one of the tallest and most ambitious projects in Palo Alto's recent history: a three-building project that would create 382 dwellings and commercial space on the current site of the Mollie Stone's supermarket.

The proposal from Redco Development is relying on "builder's remedy," a legally contentious provision of state code that allows builders to bypass local zoning restrictions for housing projects if the city does not have an approved Housing Element, according to the application.

Its project calls for three mixed-use buildings: a 17-story tower with 194 dwellings and 2,100 square feet of commercial space; an 11-story with 2,131 square feet of commercial space and 78 dwellings; and a seven-story building with 14,168 square feet of commercial space and 110 residential units.

The plans that Redco submitted show Mollie Stone's occupying the ground level of the seven-story podium once the project is constructed.

The Redco plan is the latest — and by far the largest — in a wave of builder's remedy proposals that the city has received over the past year. These include two developments that target a segment of El Camino Real just south of Page Mill Road: a 380-apartment complex proposed by Acclaim Companies for the former site of The Fish Market at 3150 El Camino Real and a 185-apartment development that Oxford Capital Group is proposing for site of Creekside Inn at 3400 El Camino Real.

Redco, however, is aiming higher. Its 17-story tower would be 177 feet in height, more than twice as tall as the Acclaim project and more than three times as tall as the city's 50-foot height limit normally allows (in this particular zone, the height limit is actually 37 feet). The other tower and the podium would have heights of 123 feet and 77 feet, respectively.

The Redco project would also be by far the densest development in the area, with a density of 267 units per acre. Palo Alto density limits in multi-family zones normally top out at 40 units per acre.

Under the proposed layout, the new podium building with the supermarket would be located at the corner of California and Park Boulevard, the current location of Mollie Stone's.

The taller of the two towers would be just north of the property, at the Cambridge Avenue site that currently serves as the parking lot for the supermarket. The second tower would be on the other side of Cambridge, directly across the street from the first.

The development also includes two levels of underground parking with 341 spaces, accessible from Cambridge.

The application notes that the entire ground floor façade fronting Park and California will include public open space, retail and lobby areas, creating a "vibrant pedestrian friendly space close to the transit station."

While the council has yet to weigh in on the application, the Redco proposal adds more urgency to the city's frustrating quest to win state approval for its Housing Element, a plan that lays out the city's strategy for accommodating 6,086 more dwellings between 2023 and 2031. The City Council adopted its Housing Element last May but the state Department of Housing and Community Development subsequently declined to certify it and demanded further revisions.

The city is now in the midst of revisions to add new programs, which include creating a new "housing focus area" on El Camino Real to allow taller and denser developments. Concurrently, the city is revising its zoning code to implement some of the programs in its recently adopted Housing Element, which includes raising building-density limits in multi-family, commercial and industrial zones throughout the city, most notably around San Antonio Road.

Redco filed its preliminary application as a Senate Bill 330 project, invoking a recent law that precludes the city from changing development standards after a proposal has been submitted. It is also invoking builder's remedy, a provision that would allow it to entirely sidestep existing limits on height, density and other regulations.

Palo Alto has pushed back against recent builder's remedy applications and maintained that because it has an approved Housing Element, it is not subject to the provision. Attorneys for developers countered that because the state has not certified the city's Housing Element, the builder's remedy remains in play.

Mayor Lydia Kou, who had been briefed on the project, said in an email Redco is proposing to classify 77 of its housing units as "affordable" at 80% of area median income to qualify for builder's remedy.

With the preliminary application filed, the applicant now has 180 days to submit a formal application, which would trigger the city's project-review process. In an email to the community, Kou offered some basic information about the project and said the city "is committed to achieving HCD certification and is working diligently toward that goal."

And while the council has yet to weigh in on the proposal, Kou made no secret in her email of her disdain for recent development proposals, including Redco's.

"Sadly, Palo Alto is losing its being a community and is sold off (in) bits and pieces as a commodity," Kou wrote.