The City of Millbrae announced an agreement with the Bay Area Rapid Transit District to return several downtown parcels of land.
The agreement signed on April 5, returns land to Millbrae that BART had been holding as part of its extension into San Francisco International Airport. The agreement will turn currently underutilized land into a vibrant new development helping provide a catalyst for buildout of the City’s prime downtown land.
“This is terrific news and an important milestone for both the City and BART. New housing and a premier development on the transit corridor is one step closer to becoming a reality,” said Mayor Ann Schneider.
The agreement gives the City significant new opportunities to develop mixed-use housing and commercial units and to further leverage its demands that California High Speed Rail tracks be ungrounded.
The returned land located in four parcels located on the west side of the existing Millbrae transit station allows Millbrae to re-align California Drive to serve the already approved Serra Station project which includes 488 units of housing with 15% affordable units and 320,000 sq. ft. of office and commercial space.
The land agreement also gives Millbrae new leverage in its challenges to California High Speed Rail and its EIR and other approval processes, city leaders said. Millbrae is pushing High Speed Rail to underground its tracks because its current plans would pave prime real estate in downtown Millbrae and turn it into a parking lot.
The City of Millbrae has filed a strenuous objection to the environmental impact report filed by the California High Speed Rail Authority, noting that the document violates the requirements of California’s CEQA law.
