Greenbelt Alliance is excited to endorse Lane Partners’ Parkline project, which proposes to redevelop the nonprofit scientific research institute SRI International’s campus in Menlo Park. This innovative development envisions the transformation of SRI’s 63-acre campus into a multi-modal, mixed-use neighborhood, featuring a combination of class A office space, retail, housing, and open space.
The residential component of the project will feature 800 new homes, with more than 30% of them affordable to low and very low income households. The affordable units will be mixed throughout and provided via the dedication of an acre of land to a non-profit developer.
In addition to providing badly needed new housing in Menlo Park, the project will also increase the city’s green and open space, as well as help to reduce emissions. More than 25 acres of the site will be publicly accessible open space, and the redevelopment will decommission the cogeneration power plant, one of the city’s largest single sources of greenhouse gas emissions.
New buildings will be all-electric and LEED Platinum in part by removing existing gas uses from the site.
Car-Lite Living: A Sustainable Strategy
Parkline prioritizes multi-modal transportation to reduce car trips. It is located just half a mile from downtown Menlo Park and amenities like grocery stores, shops, and the city’s Caltrain station and multiple SamTrans bus lines.
Plans include more than 2.5 miles of bike and pedestrian pathways within the project, with more than 1,200 bike parking spaces and bicycle repair stations. Additionally, Parkline will make improvements to existing lanes in Menlo Park, including along Burgess, Laurel, and Ravenswood.
A metrics comparison based on GreenTRIP—a free online tool created by Transform that models traffic and greenhouse gas impacts of residential projects in California—underscores the project’s environmental benefits:
- 8,226 fewer miles driven every day compared to the San Mateo County average.
- 32% fewer GHG impacts every day compared to the San Mateo County average.
Greenbelt Alliance is proud to support the Parkline development project and looks forward to the beneficial impacts it will enable not just in Menlo Park, but also in expanding the options of innovative, sustainable, mixed-use neighborhoods and housing developments across the Bay Area
Greenbelt Alliance’s Climate SMART—Sustainable, Mixed, Affordable, Resilient, Transit-Oriented— Development Endorsement Program goals call for fully protecting the Bay Area’s greenbelt, directing growth within existing communities, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and accomplishing both in a way that equitably benefits all Bay Area residents. Our Endorsement Program supports projects that advance the right kind of development in the right places. By promoting climate SMART development, we can create thriving, resilient neighborhoods with ready access to transit and housing choices for all of the Bay Area’s people. Find out more about our Endorsement Program here. Feel free to contact our team for more information and support.
Header Photo: Lane Partners.
