Possible Redwood City Service Center and (maybe) Supercharger

[RichardL]

Possibly taking over the health club area next to the Land Rover dealership:

Tesla eyes Redwood City site

It states there 'might' be a publicly accessible Supercharger there as well

 

[Chuq]

I noticed that article yesterday, I didn't know enough about the local area to be sure if there was a thread for it or not!

It's possible that the supercharger could be purely for use by service technicians. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable can find the plans?

 

[ken830]

I was able to do some digging and found some interesting tidbits and even the detailed project plan that was drawn up by MBH Arch and submitted to the City. Looks like the proposal is to build a sales and service center in the location currently occupied by both Crunch and Chef Peking. The plan covers just the building structure, so no indication of whether a Supercharging site will be included in the parking lot.

If you go to the permit searching website, you can search for these related projects:

AP2017-049
UP2017-017
ZT2017-002

Not much info to be gained there, but we could continue to monitor the site in the coming months to see any additional permits that show up.

More interesting is the Rewood City current projects page:

Development Projects | City of Redwood City

Here, you'll find the link to the project plan PDF



For now, the status is "Application Deemed Incomplete."

 

[ecarfan]

@ken830 nice find! Looks like a showroom and a large service center. I don’t see any Superchargers in the plans.

Currently at Find Us | Tesla There is no future Supercharger location shown for Redwood City. There is one shown for San Carlos, quite nearby.

 

[ken830]

Still no change to the project page, but Crunch is now closed. Chef Peking appears to still be open.

 

[Chuq]

Any more info on this, in particular if there will be a supercharger or not?

 

[ken830]

Chef Peking now appears to be closed. Hopefully, there will be some progress on the permitting and planning front soon

 

[SMAlset]

That would be a welcomed service center up that way. Seems like this has been in the works for awhile now.

We really could use one south of San Jose for all the people in South County. A lot of Tesla owners down this way based on how many cars I see on the roads when driving (figure owners and people working down this way. We must have at least a dozen owners just in our general neighborhood area). It might also be nice for those San Jose residents south of the Santa Clara service center, especially if they worked down this way. It's a reverse commute for them during rush hour.

 

[mblakele]

We really could use one south of San Jose for all the people in South County

Not quite south of San Jose, but how about east of downtown, off 101? I posted this back in December.

New Service Center? Mabury Rd in San Jose

 

[SMAlset]

Not quite south of San Jose, but how about east of downtown, off 101? I posted this back in December.

New Service Center? Mabury Rd in San Jose

Thanks. I saw that a while back. Not much help really for those in the South San Jose/Coyote/Morgan Hill/San Martin/Gilroy area that don't need to travel to Penisula or the East Bay for work. I can see that location helping those in the San Jose and Milpitas area or those working on in the East Bay however. Much better for them than trying to travel to Santa Clara especially for morning appointments during rush hour. On the whole for South County though I don't think the location is any more convenient that going to the Santa Clara SvC.

 

[Staff]

I live down the street, this would be a terrible location. Traffic congestion as high as Holly, abundant crime & shady characters, hope there's a constant police presence if this actually becomes a site.

Would not let my GF take the car and charge at this location, put it that way. Target @ Foster City - no problem.

 

[ken830]

Looks like the project went from "Application Deemed Incomplete" to "Application Deemed Complete" just today.

Permit #B17-1936

 

[ken830]

Looks like the project site is now showing an upcoming meeting:

• Tuesday, May 15, 2018, Planning Commission

 

[ken830]

The "Status" bar has now moved beyond "Environmental & Design Review" and is now on "Public Hearing."

The "Environmental Review" section changed from "City reviewing project for CEQA determination" to "Project consistent with Previous Plan EIR"

The previously listed Planning Commission meeting now has a link to the meeting agenda:

SIRE Public Access - Published Meeting Viewer


Within the agenda, there are several pieces of supporting materials. Most of it covers building exterior, trees/landscaping, lighting, drainage/sewer, encroachments, bicycle parking, etc.. And updated version of the original project plans are also included. I've attached most of these files. The project plan is too large to attach (~18MB) -- this link may work.

An interesting tidbit (emphasis mine):

Proposed Project
The applicant, Tesla, proposes to establish a vehicle sales and service use within the entire 23,087 square foot existing commercial building with associated interior improvements. The project also includes minor exterior changes; however, no additional square footage is proposed. The interior would include an automobile service area, office space, conference rooms, a sales showroom, storage, bathrooms, and a customer lounge. All of the proposed use would occur indoors. The service station area includes superchargers, computer equipment, mechanical lifts, a tire rack, a tire changer, and a tire balancer. The exterior changes mainly consist of new roll-up doors, an updated storefront, new windows, and infill of existing openings to match the existing exterior plaster material.​

So, it looks like there are no publicly-accessible Superchargers. This was expected.

 

[ken830]

I want to add that the plans are so detailed that it's fascinating to read through. From the plans, we know minute details about the exterior lighting (Philips Leonis Series), the break room chairs (IKEA), the microwave (Danby), the kids toys & furniture (IKEA, Noya, Matrix), and even details about how the Design Studio and Powerwall wall displays will look like. All of this and more are detailed along-side expected stuff like location of doorways, sprinklers, electrical fixtures, etc...

 

[mblakele]

A news article came out this morning. There's a planning commission meeting tonight, if anyone is interested.

Redwood City considers new Tesla location

Selected quotes, mostly repeating what we already know:

[...]

The renovation at 515 Veterans Blvd. will be discussed by the Planning Commission May 15, and entails mostly interior upgrades to the vacant building that once housed a Crunch Fitness gym and Chef Peking Chinese restaurant. Tesla would be the latest of many auto dealers to set up shop in the area west of Highway 101.

The 23,087-square-foot, one-story building would remain the same size and height, and encompass a 4,941-square-foot sales and showroom and a 15,257-square-foot service area along with warehousing and office space. The site would contain a total of 101 parking spaces, including five bike and three motorcycle spots, and remain accessible via the one-way entrance and exit on Convention Way. There are no plans for a supercharger station though, according to the Tesla website, there are two in San Mateo and one planned for San Carlos.

[...]

Tesla is requesting a zoning amendment to allow automobile sales and service, which has been granted to neighboring sites and is consistent with the general plan, according to a staff report.

The Planning Commission will meet 7 p.m. May 15 at City Hall, 1017 Middlefield Road.

 

[jjgunn]

Looks like Tuesday June 5th is the next meeting.

Glad the SuperChargers are not publicly accessible - plenty in the area.

Obviously SC's for the service dept to charge while vehicles being repaired

 

[mblakele]

Tesla pulls the plug on Redwood City showroom and repair shop - Palo Alto Daily Post

Redwood City has pulled the plug on plans for a Tesla repair shop and sales showroom slated for the former location of Crunch Fitness on Veterans Boulevard near Highway 101.

Tesla had already received the planning commission’s go-ahead on the project — to convert the 23,000-square-foot gym to a repair shop and sales center — and to get its final approval from the city council. However, after the May 15 commission meeting, Tesla decided against having a sales center at 515 Veterans Blvd., said city spokeswoman Meghan Horrigan.

City officials told Tesla they wanted a sales center to be part of the application, and so Tesla withdrew its plans, according to Horrigan.
The location offered visibility from Highway 101, something other car dealers have desired.

Tesla did not respond to the Post’s messages to hear the company’s side of the story.​

 

[ken830]

No wonder. I drove by today and noticed that the entire lot was filled with Lexus SUVs.

 

[ecarfan]

This article is confusing:

Tesla pulls the plug on Redwood City showroom and repair shop - Palo Alto Daily Post

Tesla had already received the planning commission’s go-ahead on the project — to convert the 23,000-square-foot gym to a repair shop and sales center... However, after the May 15 commission meeting, Tesla decided against having a sales center...

City officials told Tesla they wanted a sales center to be part of the application, and so Tesla withdrew its plans...​

So Tesla got approval from the planning commission for a service center and showroom but then decided against the facility including as showroom, the city insisted that a showroom be part of the facility, and Tesla decided to not proceed with the project at all?

There is more to this story than is being reported. Why would the city insist on a showroom being part of the facility? I don’t know why Tesla decided against including a showroom, but why would that matter to the city? The building used to contain a Crunch Fitness gym, now it’s empty, the city would gain tax revenue if Tesla built a big Service Center there.

And why did Tesla decide against having a showroom in that facility? They need a better showroom/service center in the area, as BurlingameService is in an awkward location to access, the showroom is small, and the Service Center is extremely busy.

So many questions...