A few weeks back I talked about the City of Palo Alto. Today I am going to talk about the City of East Palo Alto.
The City of East Palo Alto has about 25,000 residents and is located at the southern border of San Mateo County, separated from Santa Clara County by San Francisquito Creek. The city’s boundaries include San Francisco Bay to the north, Palo Alto Creek to the east and south, and Menlo Park to the west. U.S. Highway 101 divides East Palo Alto into two sectors.
Primary access to the neighborhood is available via University Avenue. University Avenue is a four-lane thoroughfare that traverses the town, providing links to the freeway, Palo Alto and Bayfront Expressway. The expressway connects the area to the Dumbarton Bridge, which links San Mateo and Alameda Counties.
Development consists of single-family homes interspersed with multi-family dwellings that vary in size and design. With the exception of some newly developed subdivisions and apartment buildings, most of the homes were built within 10 to 20 years after World War II. The prevailing design consists of one-story bungalows, which typically contain 900 to 1,500 square feet of living area.
Condition varies widely, with many homes showing substantial physical deterioration and others reflecting average maintenance. Most of the lots are level or nearly so, and many sites lie on bay mud soil. Lot sizes range from a bit less than 5,000 square feet to well over 10,000 square feet. Apartment buildings range between two and 40 units and primarily consist of walk-up designs with exterior entries and carport parking.
Over the last 15 years, several new housing developments have been completed in East Palo Alto. University Square Housing Development is a 36-acre development site with new single-family residences. Peninsula Park Apartments is a development of 129 apartment units with sixty-five (65) reserved for very low and low-income households.
Several commercial developments have also recently been completed over the last 15 years. The largest development is the 30-acre Ravenswood 101 Retail Center. The center is anchored by Home Depot and IKEA. Other retailers and restaurants at the project include: Best Buy, McDonalds, Taco Bell, PGA Superstore, Starbucks Coffee and Baskin Robbins. New office and hotel developments include anchors such as Amazon and the Four Seasons.
