The Burlingame Voice

Whither the Post Office?

We've been following the machinations of downtown development and asking simple questions.  With the latest announcement from the Postal Service, as covered in the Daily Journal,

Earlier this month, the sale of the Burlingame Main Post Office, 341 Lorton Ave., was approved by postal officials, said U.S. Postal Service spokesman James Wigdel. A timeline for selling the property as well as the relocation process, which requires a public meeting, has yet to be set. But the announcement could be good news for Burlingame officials who have long eyed the central downtown property.

The Burlingame Post Office is about 13,400 square feet but only 4,100 square feet is needed, said Wigdel.

“The plan is to relocate all retail and P.O. Box operations currently housed in the Burlingame Main Post Office to a yet-to-be-determined new location in the same vicinity as the current post office that is appropriately sized for our current needs,” he said.

Similar things are happening in Palo Alto and caused the Daily Post editor, Dave Price, to ask on Monday why the Postal Service thinks downtown (Palo Alto) rent will be any less expensive than a paid-for building.  He also questioned how much they will get for it due to zoning restrictions in PA.  B'game may not have that restriction, but certainly the historic nature of the building and the tight parking have to be considered.  There are still simple questions to be answered.

Downtown Plan: Cart Tripping Up The Horse?

Tomorrow night the City Council will take a deeper look at one of the most controversial development proposal since the original Safeway and 301 Airport Blvd. project at the Drive-in raised red flags a decade or more ago.  The Council will be attempting to give the staff some direction on how to proceed with two developers who want to use city-owned public parking lots to build housing-retail projects in the downtown area between the Post Office and Bayswater Ave.  But is the horse already stuck behind the cart?  I think so and here is why:

The City put out requests for qualifications to 90 developer contacts on May 27, 2011.  The request was only open for two months and yielded 19 responses.  Those 19 responses were winnowed down to six for interviews.  Now the City is proposing to limit consideration to only two and they are not even interested in the same parcels for their proposals.  Given the short timeframe for responses in the midst of some of the worst real estate headwinds in a decade, this all seems premature and not smart negotiating tactics.

Second, the two developers being considered (Grosvenor and Equity Residential  NASDAQ: EQR) have concepts that include 100 to 140 residential units and 35,000 square feet of retail with parking for the units only.  The replacement public parking is TBD elsewhere, so these projects are really even bigger than described since underground or elevated parking will need to replace that which is lost.  Plus we have yet to see the impact of the rest of the Primrose retail upgrade on parking.

Lastly, one of the projects envisions retaining portions of the Post Office structure and notes that is has an uncertain historic status.  Well, not really.  Its status is pretty clear when one looks into it. The Post Office sale is far from certain to begin with.  It is the parking lot nearby that is of interest.  So why give a developer a firm, single bid committment when the resource is very much up in the air?

Lots F and N are nothing special.  Lot F, in particular, is often a mess but now is not the time to go sole source with a developer who has only a hasty "concept" to offer at time when the economy may finally be on the rebound.  Tune in tomorrow to see how the discussion goes.

 

50 And Counting

Our most local reporter/columnist, John Horgan, almost slipped his 50th anniversary in the business past me.  Right at the end of his weekend column he notes

On a personal note, 2012 marks your correspondent's 50th year writing for Peninsula newspapers, whether in print or online, beginning at the defunct Burlingame Advance-Star in 1963. Its Lorton Avenue address is now an upscale restaurant. From linotype machines to lentil soup, it was ever thus.

There's a website for almost everything including historic newspapers, so you can read a bit about the Advance-Star, nee The Advance here.  Publisher George McQueen's son Mike still makes an occasional appearance in B'game for events.  A bit more research yields the exact 1952 address on Lorton where the paper was located--number 310--which is now wedged between Meyer-Bunje and Patronik Designs.  By 1963, when John Horgan started, it must have moved a couple of doors perhaps to where Ecco is now.

In any case, congrats to John for a wonderful career and may he keep fingers to keyboard for a long time.

B'game Bungalows Rule!

Burlingame is getting more famous every month for its fabulous inventory of bungalows.  We certainly love our ranchers and Eichlers as well.  And some day I will get around to correcting the Wikipedia entry  on B'game that says we are "renowned for our many surviving examples of Victorian architecture" since there aren't more than a half dozen such examples in town and none that jump off the curb at you.

But our bungalows are another matter.  They are all over the place--in all but the youngest neighborhoods in town.  They are all distinctive even when they were purchased from catalogs and assembled on site by local workmen (a common approach in the teens and twenties).  American Bungalow magazine is the go-to reference source for bungalow lovers nationwide.  Each issue has a feature called "Family Album" that highlights eight bungalows from across the nation.  The current issue (#72) marks the third issue in a row to highlight a Burlingame bungalow.

Issue #70 featured a 1916 version on Palm Drive that is followed by a 1912 example on Fairfield Road in #71 and #72 has a 1910 example from Newlands Avenue that I can assure you is being lovingly maintained.  If we keep this up people will be visiting B'game in the same way they go to Pasadena to see "Bungalow Heaven".  One can only hope.

The last time I checked, the B'game library carried the magazine in the reference department.

Musings From Asia

The further one gets from B'game the more one tells people "I'm from San Francisco" even though you don't really, really mean it.  The good news is the most common reaction is "Oh, that's my favorite city in the US" to which I always smile in a Herb Caen-like, Baghdad by the Bay manner.  I'm thinking of B'game as I visit Singapore for a couple of days.  It's a beautiful blend of the old and new with rich walking tours of two historic districts, perfectly annotated with street signage and plenty of brochures to tell you what you are looking at.  The Raffles Hotel, the Fort Canning Park military history, and the old churches bring a strong sense of an historic city.

But there is plenty of modern development, too.  Here is a photo of the stunning, 57 story Mandarin Bay Sands hotel with the Sky Platform atop like a space ship that has landed and the aluminum science museum blossoming next to it.  Commerce is alive and well in Singapore and yet there is plenty of respect for the less-commercial aspects of the cityscape.  We can and should learn from such an approach.

Love Those Ranchers..and the Eichlers

Yesterday's Wall Street Journal had a front page article about the onset of historic status for post-WWII ranch houses as they reach the age of maturity.  A man named Richard Cloues in Atlanta is starting the effort

But with a growing number of the homes turning 50 years old--the age at which the National Park Service says most buildings may be considered for the National Register of Historic Places--Mr. Cloues is leading one of the first state efforts to protect them....Applications from ranch owners seeing historic status for their homes have risen sharply in recent years, according to the National Register.

B'game has a number of ranchers like this one

 
and the article made one point that I hadn't considered so clearly.  It notes that as Baby Boomers age, ranchers are gaining popularity because they are single level.  I think we have a bit of housing stock that excites even more passion amongst owners--Eichlers.  I had a great chat with a new B'game Eichler owner yesterday.  She is charged up about her upcoming restoration.  Here are a couple of other local examples that don't need restoring

 
 
Sweet!

Some Good News about Trains

The Daily Journal is highlighting the restoration of Engine #2472 and the train museum in Millbrae

Vern Bruce, owner of Millbrae Locks and a railroad enthusiast was able to acquire the S.P.’s Millbrae Train Depot after it was declared surplus and no longer needed as a depot. With the aid of the Millbrae History Association, he opened it as a local train museum. Call Vern at (650) 333-1136 for further information.

This is a nice complement to the Burlingame-Hillsborough Historical Society museum in the Burlingame Avenue train depot.  It's funny how the stations have evolved on the Peninula!

The center of town is set to change

The Post Office located on Park Road is most likely going to be for sale in the near future. Now is your chance to be part of what that future looks like. There will be a City Council study session on this subject this Thursday, July 21 at 5pm at the Lane Community Room at the public library.

Below is the agenda for the meeting:

I.               CALL TO ORDER

II.              ROLL CALL

III.            DISCUSSION OF DOWNTOWN BURLINGAME POST OFFICE SITE

A.             Introduction (Jim Nantell)

B.             Overview of Site and Constraints (William Meeker)

C.             Developer Perspective Regarding Site Potential (Mark Farrar/Millennium Partners and Tom Gilman/DES Architects)

D.             “Brainstorming” Discussion Regarding Potential Uses

1.              Local Architects’ Perspective

2.              Public Perspective

E.             Response from Developer Representative (Mark Farrar/Millennium Partners and Tom Gilman/DES Architects)

F.             Council Discussion

G.            Direction to Staff

 

For Sale?

The financial troubles of the U.S. Postal Service have been covered in the Journal at some length.  Now USPS officials are saying that at least some of the main PO between Park Rd and Lorton Ave. will be put up for sale for around 5 mil.  There's a nice lawn and plenty of parking as well as room to sublet in the building itself--but don't we need a Post Office there?  Plus there are historic aspect to the building which mean changes to it may not be easy to make.

Envision a nice little bandstand right here:

Classic B'game Interior

Those of us who love the charm of B'game's neighborhoods and classically designed houses, get a thrill out of seeing the insides of houses on Sunday Open House tours.  I saw this prototypical Arts &Crafts inglenook in a house on Howard Ave. recently.  Fabulous!

And check out the detail of this corner moulding