Today's Daily Post front page headline is "Neighborhoods under pressure". It discusses the impending doom facing single-family housing in the state if Scott Weiner and others in Sacramento get their way with our neighborhoods. It's almost too depressing to ponder. But one of the things we do here at the Voice is capture B'game history as it is being made. Here it won't drift off into forgotten oblivion like many social media sites.
The two classic B'game "cottages" at the corner of California and Oak Grove have been in the news over the years as the long-time tenants got support from national personality Tony Robbins in an effort to stay put. They're both gone and yet the little bungalows from a time gone by are still here--for awhile. Right next door is where the action is since another big development has been approved as a "live/work" space. The Daily Journal initially had the site listed incorrectly as the site of the two cottages, but has corrected the piece and noted the correction here.
The Burlingame Planning Commission unanimously approved Monday, Sept. 28, plans to build 25 units in a live-work development at 601 California Drive. For the development on California Drive, officials praised the five-story building intended to grant people a place to live and work under the same roof — a departure from the previous discussion, in which officials were unimpressed. Live/work developments are designed to offer tenants a place to both run a business and make their home in the same unit. Burlingame officials have promoted the development of such projects since updating the general plan to encourage creative land use.
When you look at the proposal, it's not obvious why this is a "live/work" development. It's got a conference room and a gym, but other than that it just looks like a stack of multi-bedroom units. You might think there would be ground floor professional space, art gallery space or even room for yet another nail salon, but nope. That's probably OK since it is a street ripe for higher density. We will just have to wait and see what happens to the two little houses that have stood on that corner for so long. Here they are; so they aren't forgotten.
There is no difference between live-work and a regular apartment. 17% of residents already live-work in their houses and apartments. Read The Third Wave.
Posted by: liam flaherty | October 10, 2020 at 10:29 AM
Looking forward to voting out any council member who votes for increased population in B-game as well as destroying these historic and cute little cottages, as they did on Myrtle Drive. Enough!
Posted by: Everything's Jake | October 12, 2020 at 10:47 AM
Why don't our suburban cities get together and tell the state to 'pound salt' on housing mandates?
Posted by: Paloma Ave | October 12, 2020 at 11:33 AM
I do not understand why someone would move here and then constantly complain that "We need to change things."
If you don't like it here, move somewhere else. Most of us living here like it the way it is.
Take your unhappiness and go away.
Posted by: Paloma Ave | November 06, 2020 at 10:22 AM
When we get told to conserve water, stop watering our lawns/trees/plants and take 2 minute showers, I'll be thinking of the two old ladies who lived where 44 units are going in........
Construction for new condominiums in a five-story, 44-unit live/work development at 619-625 California Drive was approved unanimously by the Burlingame Planning Commission.
The live/work units on the second, third and fourth floors range from 741 square feet to 1,234 square feet in area. Each live/work unit will contain a living area, kitchen, bathroom, laundry closet, sleeping area, either a studio or one-bedroom, and a work area.
Burchall also has another project across the street that is expected to begin construction next year and said this proposed project would follow after the first one is completed.
The site’s history includes the house where Marie Hatch lived for 66 years, and the last 30 of those years with her friend Georgia Rothrock, when they were evicted by the man who inherited the home and said he had to sell it to satisfy the terms of a trust agreement.
https://www.smdailyjournal.com/news/local/five-story-condo-approved-in-burlingame/article_8689978e-dba1-11eb-9b93-bff902e9c736.html
Posted by: Joe | July 04, 2021 at 12:43 PM
I remember the "owner" of that home.
She worked at Copenhagen Bakery. She always presented a "Rough Persona." After getting to know her a couple of years, she really was a "Softy" at heart.
Posted by: hollyroller@gmail.com | July 06, 2021 at 12:28 PM
NIGHTMARE ON BROADWAY - Just now, driving west on Broadway, between Rollins Rd and California Dr., I was cut off and stopped by three different cars.
By all means, let's continue to build and build and build, even though we have the worst intersection, in all of San Mateo County, at California and Broadway!
Posted by: Paloma Ave | July 09, 2021 at 01:28 PM