Mountain View plans to sell street for 7-story housing project

Mountain View is planning to vacate a residential street to make way for a seven-story condo project, marking the second time this year that the city has taken steps to relinquish rights to a public road for a housing development.

In a unanimous vote last month, the City Council approved a city staff recommendation to formally indicate its intention to vacate the entirety of Gamel Way, a cul-du-sac off Escuela Avenue and across the street from Castro and Mistral elementary schools. The public utilities from the street would also be removed or relocated, according to the June 23 staff report.

The council is expected to take a final vote on the proposal to vacate Gamel Way at its Sept. 8 meeting. Details of the terms and conditions for the sale will be provided at that time, according to the staff report. The item passed on the council’s consent agenda without comment.

For the better part of a decade, DeNardi Wang Homes, formerly known as the DeNardi Group, has been looking to build condos at 1920 Gamel Way. That plan has always hinged on the sale of the street.

Five years ago, the city council unanimously approved DeNardi’s proposal to build a four-story, 121-condominium development, replacing 29 rent-controlled apartments on a roughly 2.3-acre site. DeNardi sidestepped controversy at the time by agreeing to replace all the apartments with affordable condos, in addition to providing tenant relocation benefits. The developer had also agreed to pay the city $4.8 million for the sale of Gamel Way.

Since then, DeNardi Wang Homes has submitted new project plans that call for a development nearly twice the size of the original one. The developer submitted the updated application at a time when Mountain View had missed the deadline to get its housing element certified by the state. That opened the door for the plans to proceed as a builder’s remedy project, even though the city has since gotten its housing element approved by the state.

Under state law, builder’s remedy projects can skirt local zoning regulations and development standards, as long as 20% of the homes are affordable to lower-income households.

The most recent plan for the project shows a seven-story condo building with two levels of parking. Of the 216 condos, 44 will be set aside as below market-rate units. That includes 29 “replacement” condos set at the income levels of tenants displaced from their rent-controlled apartments because of the redevelopment.

According to the June staff report, the city is currently reviewing permits and a tentative map for the project.

This story originally appeared in the Mountain View Voice. Emily Margaretten joined the Mountain View Voice in 2023 as a reporter covering City Hall.