A three-story building on Santa Cruz Avenue?!? You've GOT to be kidding!!!

What are the required number of parking spaces per the building code for this project? Or as usual is the city giving in to the developer when it comes to required parking spaces?
What is the impact n the current parking for the hardware store? Will the handicapped parking spot be replaced. As it is downtown does not have enough handicapped spots for legitimate handicap users.

The building looks beautiful. This is exactly the kind of building we need more of downtown. Great project, and happy to see Council approve it. I hope to see more like it soon in order to increase the vitality and improve the appearance of downtown.

Let me get this straight: lots of vacant storefronts in downtown Menlo (some quite large), so the answer to “revitalization” is to knock out existing businesses, create a huge building that will cast shade (when most locals enjoy sitting outside in the sun), and create offices and a few ridiculously expensive condos? Seriously? Welcoming reasonably priced shops on Santa Cruz (that are more than just interior design operations!!!!) would induce a heck of a lot more “vitality“. People go to specific restaurants (with good food and ambience) and specific stores, especially if they know there is good parking (the increased parking in this projects is the one good thing!). Or did the people who approved this thing think that the few people working in those offices (who might grab lunch or an after work drink downtown) will create “vitality“, despite the fact that they will surely never be around on a Saturday, and probably not in the evenings either? I guess they think a shiny new building makes everything look good. All you have to do is look at how grim Redwood City looks to know that shiny buildings are not the answer. (PS- The expanded outdoor dining areas in the downtown restaurants have made a huge difference in how it feels downTown. Bravo for that. And I adore the lights and all the trees. Kudos for at least THOSE good decisions!)

Excited to see some development on Santa Cruz Ave. Our downtown needs a refresh. I hope City Council is also now open to revisiting the need for more parking, regardless of this new structure. We need to reconsider our stance on parking garages so we can attract other businesses and patrons to our downtown area.

Santa Cruz Ave needs something to revive it from the dead. Looks good, carry on.

So long Santa Cruz Avenue, hello El Camino. In a few years we'll have jet another tunnel of tall buildings. Vitalization? If this is vitalization who needs it. TWO STORIES MAKES A LOT OF SENSE TO ME.

Nice looking building. Taller structures on that side of Santa Cruz will cast most of their shade on the parking lot in back, especially in winter. Maybe they've thought of this already, but it might be a good idea to limit the South-East side to single story, and put the taller buildings on the North-West side.

Beautiful design! Great use of space! Well done to the architect and THANK YOU to the Oros family for contributing a first step in revitalizing our sorry, sorry "downtown."

So much talent, so much education, such forward thinking, and, yet, we never quite get it(?) right. I wish I had the answers. I wish I could tell the ptb who to turn to. I just know that with all that is in our powers in such an enlightened area, there ought to be no trouble coming up with a wondrous downtown Menlo Park...really. PLEASE CAN someone, anyone, shake us, wake us, and get us on the right path?

This is a genuine question, not just a criticism. I must be missing something. How does a building of offices and residences revitalize our downtown? I can see how stores and restaurants might do that but offices? I see traffic, parking problems and the like. I don't see a more vibrant downtown.

What does Drew want? Attractive building for the sake of it?

Someone who supports this, please explain. I don't understand how we will be better off.

Let's define 'Vitality': more people, more foot-fall, more commerce, more day to day activity. You either want this or you don't. It's perfectly OK to say 'leave Menlo park just the way it is!'. But my advice would be to practice more birth control to stop having children, burn the school and start keying visitors cars so nobody wants to move here and we can keep it under a glass cover.

If we grow, which is inevitable, then our downtown needs to grow as well. People howling that 'three stories' is akin to the sky falling is misplaced. And as strange as it seems, growing regional downtowns is to reduce driving, not increase traffic. This is a perfectly mannered, ordinary looking building. Move forward!

"Vitality". We need and we all want vitality, but does it have to be to the extent we see happening right now before our very eyes?

Office workers on SC Ave will become the much needed customers for the restaurants in the area at lunch time. Many new ones are popping up. If you can get steady customers for both lunch and dinner, you'll flourish, as will the rest of downtown. It must be balanced, but offices are good for a downtown.

"Here's how it Works". What you say makes sense but it debunks the theory that we need housing near transportation centers.

Omg! And this is only one of the many reasons I am moving Out of Menlo Park after 50 + years here. This city is not the same and the more they build the worse the traffic gets and more it pushes me away. I used to love this town. Born and raised, now I can not wait to get out...

To: Will

Thank you. My sentiments exactly. I was born and raised in Menlo Park. I lived there for 50 years before moving. To go back there today and visit would break my heart. At least we have our memories of what a great town it used to be.

pearl

Will & Pearl:

its called growth and change. It happens. When I moved to the area in 1971 there were still many, many orchards. Not any more. So what? They were taken out to provide much needed housing. We have no area left for single story homes, so density must increase. This is all part of that growth. I know, it's change and change can be difficult and painful, but change is one constant of life.

Does charm , history , old town feel, have to be mutually exclusive to revitalization ! This building is going to change the character of Santa Cruz ! This is not Sand Hill Road!

To: Maite Brias

Thank you, that's EXACTLY what it's all about! :)

pearl

Three Story buildings with Housing on the top floor will become the norm in Menlo Park. we have a requirement to have more housing for each square foot of office space (thanks to the States BAGS requirements)

WRT to there is NOTHING charming about Menlo Park, there is NOTHING Old Town about Menlo Park. This is a city that wrote over 25,000 parking tickets......almost one per resident. Charming, we are NOT.

Roy Thiele-Sardina

"WRT to there is NOTHING charming about Menlo Park, there is NOTHING Old Town about Menlo Park. This is a city that wrote over 25,000 parking tickets......almost one per resident. Charming, we are NOT."

Exactly.

"This is a city that wrote over 25,000 parking tickets......almost one per resident."

Well, if they all went to residents, it clearly shows how little the residents care about obeying the simple laws of society that keep us civil.
I've noticed a marked sense of entitlement with many in MP concerning how and where they park.

I don't say enforce the laws less, I say obey the laws more.

Agreed with Maite Brias. I don't think charm has to be mutually exclusive with vitality. The problem is that that's not where the money is. The money (for developers) is in big office buildings and apartment towers. Meanwhile, we're losing a used bookstore and other long-time establishments in favor of office complexes and apartment buildings. We're sacrificing culture and character and turning MP into a McCity like any other. Obviously I understand why (a used bookstore is certainly not a major moneymaker). It's just sad.

What’s sad is the always entitled ME generation who has zero awareness of their comments. Menlo Park’s population more than doubled to accommodate them in the 50s and 60s. Did they care what the the older residents thought of growth then. Nope. Now they whine about the same thing except the growth is like 10% vs. 100%.
And those whining about the book store! How about offering to pay the rent on a new space for Feldman? No takers?