Bye Chevron, Hello Walgreens

The first phase of the remaking of El Camino from Burlingame Ave. to Howard Ave. has begun with the demolition of the Chevron station at the Burlingame Ave. corner.  I've heard that the Walgreens at Howard and Primrose is one of the highest grossing locations in the whole chain so I hope the new location works out as well.  It might be hard to match the old dual access and pedestrian-friendly location, but perhaps the new store will rejuvenate the important corner at the end of the Avenue.

Comments

[Concerned]

Where older customers who are just running in to pick up an Rx, going to park?

[Joe]

There were a few parking items in the plan.
As I recall there will be 5 new short-time meters on the Ave. where the old gas station entrance was. The property owner also put some money into the city parking piggy bank and the city is hoping Caltrans will allow a new entrance off of El Camino into the city lot there. That's a quick walk into the store. Not sure if that will be enough.

[Vince]

I am very excited about the new Walgreens! (And Safeway too.) I live a few blocks away and make frequent trips to Walgreens. Everytime I look at it I think "Wow, this Walgreens sure doesn't reflect Burlingame." And yes, it should bring some life back to that end of Burlingame Ave. Now if only AT&T would sell their huge building across the street so someone could put something useful there.

[commuter]

That huge building across the street connects every landline, alarm line and dsl line in town to the outside world. It ain't goin' nowhere. Fuggetaboutit

[Steve]

Is this going to be a 2 story Walgreens? If not, it's going to be quite a bit smaller than the current store.

[Steve]

The AT&T building (Burlingame Ave and El Camio) was once a billing/customer service office, an AT&T phone store, a customer repair dispatch center as well as it's main function as a TOC (Technical Operating Center). All functions other than the TOC have left the building. The top 2 floors that housed the switching equipment for all of Burlingame and Hillsborough could now be consolidated into a single floor due to the phased out "Step" (rotary dial) relays. But since that would require extensive infrastructure changes, its unlikely to happen. Renting out the unused floors is also unlikely due to security requirements. Since that building is where all voice and data connections for Burlingame and Hillsborough are made, that building is there to stay.

[resident]

I feel better about the new Walgreens now that I see the brick facing on the building. It may not be the perfect thing for the end of the avenue but now I think it could have been worse. Taller would definitely be worse, too.