California’s housing mandate took effect on Feb. 1, 2023, requiring Menlo Park to approve plans for 1,662 affordable, below-market-rate (BMR) homes by February 2031. BMR units typically are cheaper than the area median and must be sold or rented to people making below a certain percentage of the region’s median income. Since that announcement, Menlo Park has moved rapidly, scrambling to add to its currently insufficient 584 approved units across the city. The city currently has three prominent affordable housing initiatives in the works: 251 BMR units at Parkline, 41 at 888 El Camino Real, and 345 downtown.
Why does Menlo Park need affordable housing?
Menlo Park does not need to finish construction on its affordable housing units by 2031—it only needs to issue sufficient building permits before the deadline. Per California Housing Element Law, failure to meet the state-mandated threshold of 1,662 units could result in fines of anywhere from $10,000 to $100,000 each month after the deadline. Additionally, Menlo Park may lose its ability to veto future qualified housing proposals in a process known as Builder’s Remedy; if a qualifying housing proposal is submitted to Menlo Park, the city won’t be able to oppose it on the basis of location—meaning the city may not have a say in the choice of future locations.
Parkline
Of the 800 possible housing units as a part of the Parkline proposal, 251 will be BMR (31%), the highest of any affordable housing proposal in Menlo Park thus far. That being said, even after Parkline, the city will still need 1,078 additional affordable housing units to meet its quota.
On Sept. 30, 2025, the City Council unanimously approved Lane Partners’ Parkline plan. The project intends to replace parts of SRI International’s headquarters and The First Church of Christ, Scientist with up to 800 new residential units. 600 rental apartments and 46 townhomes are to be built initially, while the remaining 154 rental apartments are to be developed in the future. The proposal also includes green spaces, bike paths, and other public amenities.
In order to preserve much of SRI’s campus, a significant portion of Parkline will be spent on office space, the majority of which will be occupied by SRI. A smaller portion of the office space will be for commercial use. Parkline will also be climate friendly, including EV Charging spaces, drought-tolerant landscaping improvements, a replacement program for heritage trees, fully electric and carbon-free building designs, and an emergency water storage reservoir. Community engagement will be fostered through 20 acres of open space, 2.5 miles of bike trails, and a 2.7 acre outdoor recreational park.
There’s been significant community input on the development of Parkline, totaling 12 community meetings, 1005 survey responses, and 45 tours of the site. Based on feedback, Parkline has adapted to include additional parking garages. “After hours, we will absolutely have on-site security 24/7 to make sure people within Parkline and around Parkline feel safe,” Lane Partners Principal Mark Murray said, on the topic of safety.
In terms of concerns, many M-A students commute along Ravenswood Avenue to get to school, meaning that an increased number of residents in the area could potentially increase traffic, especially during morning commute hours.
888 El Camino Real
Jeffrey’s Hamburgers has been in Menlo Park for almost twenty years. That soon might change. A proposal was recently submitted for a seven-story, 80-foot-tall, multifamily residential building to replace Jeffrey’s at its current address. The project leverages a state density bonus—a bonus which allows developers to place more units on one piece of land than the city would typically allow. This would make it the second-tallest building in the downtown area, behind the Menlo Towers. The plan includes 41 total units, with five set aside as BMR. The proposal also includes provisions for 38 dedicated parking spaces.
On Sep. 18, 2025, Menlo Park moved to review the proposal to determine whether it is consistent with City standards. If the proposal is approved by the city, Jeffrey’s will be demolished and replaced within the next three to five years, when construction begins. This doesn’t mean Jeffrey’s is totally gone—Owner Serge Karanov has already announced plans to settle down in a new location, nearby, if he’s forced to move out.
Downtown Lots 1, 2, 3
Menlo Park has targeted three parking lots in the downtown area for redevelopment, all right off Santa Cruz Avenue. The proposal seeks to add around 345 units of affordable housing by 2027. The choice to replace downtown lots with housing (as opposed to somewhere else) is based largely on acquisition costs—because the city already owns the land, they won’t have to pay for it. Further, the units will also be close to schools, jobs, transit, and more, easily fulfilling the basic state recommendations for affordable housing unit placement.
In order to offset the nearly 600 parking spots lost as a result of construction, the city is pursuing the development of expanded parking garages in the city, pledging to replace nearly all parking spots lost as a result of the proposal.
After announcing the plan to seek developers for the land in late January 2025, the city submitted a formal Request for Proposals in August 2025. At the current rate, the city will move to select a proposal to pursue in a few months.
Community Response
Menlo Park’s efforts to pursue affordable housing have been met with strong support as well as strong backlash. This is especially true in the case of the proposal to develop downtown.
Almost immediately after the details of the development were released, a local group named Save Downtown Menlo was formed. The group vehemently opposes these downtown developments, arguing that downtown will become too difficult to access as a result, hurting local businesses.
Another major concern for the organization is parking. Since Save Downtown Menlo’s inception, they’ve filed a lawsuit against the city (though later ‘paused’ the suit, because it was clarified to them that city never took final action on the lots), raised $130,000, and are currently gathering signatures on a petition that would force the city to require Menlo Park voters to directly approve any proposal to repurpose public parking plazas. The group is planning to submit their petition on Oct. 10, 2025. If they have enough signatures (around 2,000, 10% of registered voters), the ballot measure would be created.
In response to growing anti-affordable-housing rhetoric, a community group on the exact opposite side of the issue emerged shortly after, called Menlo Together. Menlo Together explicitly supports affordable housing, especially downtown. The group regularly holds events promoting affordable housing, such as its “Making Affordable Homes Happen in Menlo Park” event at Cafe Zoe in May.
