Bohannon Companies and Northwood Investors want to redevelop a 71-year-old mall in San Mateo into a retail village with nearly 1,400 homes.
The locally based developer and Denver-based investor have filed preliminary plans to bulldoze three-quarters of the Hillsdale Shopping Center at 60 East 31st Avenue and replace it with a retail, office and housing complex, SFYimby and the San Francisco Business Times reported.
In 1954, developer David Bohannon built what is now a 1.3 million-square-foot mall anchored by Nordstrom and Macy’s stores. In 2021, Northwood bought a stake in the 44.7-acre property.
Plans call for adding 1,350 townhomes and apartments, including at least 200 affordable units, according to the Business Times.
The bulk of the mall would be replaced by more than two dozen buildings containing nearly 2 million square feet of homes and 2 million square feet of shops, restaurants and offices, with parking for nearly 5,400 cars, according to SFYimby.
The tallest buildings, grouped in the center, would reach 160 feet. The retail village would include 570,000 square feet of offices and research labs.
The project, designed by HOK and Gehl Studio, would include glass offices and apartment buildings with oversized windows and balconies built around a public square,
The mall’s North Block shops, which replaced a former Sears in 2016, would be preserved, according to a project map.
A cost and timeline for the Hillsdale redevelopment were not disclosed.
In November, San Mateo voters passed a ballot measure to allow more dense development. The Measure T initiative boosted allowable building heights to eight stories, from five, and density to 130 homes per acre, from 50.
“Now, San Mateo can take meaningful steps toward allowing more homes near commercial areas, transit and the El Camino Real corridor,” Jeremy Levine, policy manager for the Housing Leadership Council of San Mateo County, told the Business Times in an email.
Malls across the nation have been pressured by changing retail trends to add hotels, offices and homes, with 200 mall owners planning to add housing.
Hillsdale, with more than 120 stores and restaurants, including such specialty shops as Michael Kors, Banana Republic, H&M, Sephora, L’Occitane, The Lego Store, Williams-Sonoma and The Apple Store, is no different.
“With extensive changes in the retail landscape, the mall’s role as that vibrant community space and economic engine is at risk,” Bohannon Companies said in a letter to San Mateo city planners. “But we have a unique opportunity to reimagine Hillsdale and strengthen its future in the context of these challenging headwinds.”
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