Welcome home: First homeowners move into new Bay Meadows development

All this month, we welcome our first homeowners to Bay Meadows! Read more about our first owners, Leo and Diana, as they open their doors for the San Mateo Daily Journal’s Bill Silverfarb. Leo and Diana are homeowners at Amelia by TRI Pointe homes. Read more below!

By Bill Silverfarb, San Mateo Daily Journal

Leo Tanjuaquio and Diana Poon have been waiting eagerly for months to move into their new home at the Amelia as they have watched it being built from the ground up. It is the first development to welcome new owners at the Bay Meadows Phase II project in San Mateo. On paper, the couple have already made money on their investment as prices have risen nearly $100,000 for similar two-bedroom units that are still for sale.

Prices for homes at the Amelia started in the range of $715,000 to $915,000 depending on the floor plan. Starting prices are now in the low $800,000s and about half of the 63 new townhomes have already been sold, said Carolyn Bird, a sales counselor with Tri Pointe Homes, the Amelia’s builder.

The couple, both software engineers who work in Foster City, got to customize their home before moving in Saturday and especially love the location as it is close to work and the Caltrain station. The city has been planning for the new community for years as it developed a plan to transform the transit corridor.

“I am thrilled to welcome San Mateo’s newest homeowners to Bay Meadows,” San Mateo Mayor David Lim wrote the Daily Journal in an email. “This development is the result of the hard work of the entire community and the addition of this new housing stocks keeps the city of San Mateo as one of the most desirable places to live in the country.” The City Council approved the Rail Corridor Transit-Oriented Development Plan in 2005 after it was developed over a four-year period. The couple looked at other townhomes in San Mateo and Redwood City but liked the fact they will be part of a brand-new community at the state’s newest and biggest transit-oriented development. They know too they are moving into the middle of a massive construction zone as hundreds of more townhomes, apartments, office buildings and a school will be built on the 83-acre site in the coming years.

But in their townhome, the construction noise is muted and they say they barely even hear the Caltrain go by. They look forward to walking out their front door in a couple of weeks and hopping on the train to go see the San Francisco Giants play. They already shop at the nearby Whole Foods and the Marina Plaza across Hillsdale Boulevard, which is walking distance from their new home.

It will also be the perfect place to live when they decide to start a family as the development will feature a 15-acre park and other family-friendly amenities, they said. Tanjuaquio and Poon bought their home before the Amelia opened up its model homes a few months ago. “We just looked at the floor plan and made a leap of faith,” Poon told the Daily Journal. They also researched Tri-Pointe Homes before signing on with the builder and even keep a spreadsheet to track the number of homes that have sold and what they sold for.The first three sales releases at Amelia and Landsdowne by Shea Homes sold out immediately, according to Stockbridge and Wilson Meany, the master developer of the Bay Meadows project.

The 93-unit Landsdowne project is also currently under construction and will have two-, three- and four-bedroom townhomes. Its three model residences are set to open this weekend. The first phase of the Bay Meadows project was officially completed in 2011 with the construction of the new Kaiser Medical Center and includes housing, office and retail space.

In the second phase, there will be five buildings of Class A office space for rent, ranging from 95,000 square feet to 185,000 square feet and the private Nueva School. The development sits between the Hillsdale and Hayward Park Caltrain stations. When complete, 1,170 housing units will ultimately be constructed on the sprawling piece of land that once was home to a horse race track.

Although Deputy Mayor Robert Ross misses the old horse race track, he said the new Bay Meadows project is a “spectacular addition” to the city. “It offers a transit-oriented option with the highest quality of living anywhere in the United States and probably the world,” Ross wrote the Daily Journal in an email.

Bay Meadows’ Parks: Acres of Adventure!

Explore Bay Meadows’ parks this summer!

Bay Meadows’ three parks and open space total nearly 18 acres. That means 18 acres of room to play, explore, and enjoy the great outdoors. And starting this month, two of our parks will be open for all to enjoy! Bay Meadows’ three parks, Paddock Park, Bay Meadows Park, and Linear Park, are designed with recreation and sustainable living in mind. To help you learn more about our three parks, we’ve provided a brief overview below. We also picked some of our favorite summer recipes to get you in the summer picnicking spirit – we selected a different favorite recipe for each park!

Paddock Park – now open!

A family oriented park, the 1.5-acre Paddock Park is well-positioned in the heart of the Bay Meadows community. The park is centered by a picnic & BBQ area, half basketball court and paved plaza that separates the large tot playground from the sprawling open lawn. The playground is fenced and gated, and features age specific play equipment on a safety surface, as well as a sand area and water-play environment. The grass lawn is ideal for family recreation and lawn sports. Perfect Picnic Recipe: Classic Potato Salad

Bay Meadows Park – now open!

Bay Meadows Park is Bay Meadows’ largest recreational area, encompassing 12 acres of land (it’s comparable in size to San Mateo’s Central Park, which is around 16 acres). The park’s extensive recreation amenities include a baseball diamond, soccer field and an area for lawn bowling. There are also two picnic areas, an impeccably-manicured wetland garden, pond, and generous amounts of open space to take in the beautifully landscaped foliage. The entire park is encircled by a walking trail, perfect for jogging or walking the dog, and is lined by substantial leafy trees and large shrubs, providing a shady buffer between the park and the street. For a complete list of San Mateo’s parks, click here! Perfect Picnic Recipe: Colorful Summer Salad

Linear Park

Bay Meadows’ 1.5-acre Linear Park is an elegant parkway with a rich array of gathering spaces set within a beautiful garden. The unique layout allows for smaller “rooms” within the park that will attract garden lovers and those seeking a quieter park experience, while the larger open central lawn is perfect for outdoor activities and group gatherings. The perfect place for a picnic, the arbors covering large tables will move your dining room outdoors, while ornamental trees and leafy trellises create a perfect lounging space that redefines “reading room.” Perfect Picnic Recipe: Squash Blossom Focaccia

For more information on Bay Meadows’ parks, join our interest list and like Bay Meadows on Facebook!

Bay Meadows Touted as Model of Smart Growth

San Jose Mercury News reporter Aaron Kinney shares Bay Meadows’ construction progress, and previews what’s to come. Read more about the “smart growth” at our new urban village taking shape in San Mateo on the Caltrain line!

SAN MATEO — Legendary jockey Russell Baze doesn’t race here anymore, but you can tour a model home on Baze Road, the street that bears his name. Nearly five years after the demolition of historic Bay Meadows racetrack, one of the largest housing developments in the Bay Area is rising from the dust at last. And though only a small portion of the 83-acre project has been built, homes are already selling — briskly.

Local planners and policymakers tout the venture, dubbed Bay Meadows Phase II, as the embodiment of sustainable growth: building new residential clusters around public transportation hubs.

When it’s finished about five years from now, the mixed-use project abutting the Hillsdale Caltrain station will comprise more than 1,100 housing units, up to 1.5 million square feet of office space, 90,000 square feet of retail space and 15 acres of parks. The property will also be home to a new high school campus for the elite Nueva School, an academy for gifted children. The private school, which administers an IQ test to applicants, is expanding from its pre-kindergarten-to-eighth grade format. Nueva’s high school will open this fall on the campus of College of San Mateo, then move to Bay Meadows in 2014.

All that comes on top of more than 700 homes and apartments created by Bay Meadows Phase I, an adjoining neighborhood built on the old practice track. That project, begun in 1997, includes several restaurants, two coffee shops and a Whole Foods Market.

The second phase in particular provided a rare opportunity to build a community from scratch, said Joshua Hugg, program manager for the Housing Leadership Council of San Mateo County, a nonprofit that advocates for new housing for people of all incomes.

“This is what it looks like when all the pieces of the puzzle fit together,” said Hugg, who also sits on the San Mateo County Planning Commission, though he joined in 2012 after the second phase was approved. He called the project a chance to “really demonstrate the potential of transit-oriented development.”

Behind The Scenes With The Design Team at Landsdowne

An Interview with Cassandra Timotti Interior Designer of Shea Homes of Northern CA,
Landsdowne Model Homes at Bay Meadows

CDC Designs believes in creating that perfect balance of interiors and lifestyle, creating settings that offer a blend of the aspirational and the accessible. Clearly, they are onto something! CDC Designs is consistently recognized by Interior Design Magazine in their list of “100 Giants” and frequently featured in industry publications – including the most recent issue.

Cassandra in Skylofts at Origen

Cassandra Timotti, Project Manager, Cassandra joined CDC Designs in 2001 as a designer, her past experience was designing in the restaurant industry. Over the years, Cassandra has shown her passion and talents for design on dozens of projects and has been promoted throughout her career to her current Project Management role. She coordinates with the Creative Department in the conceptual beginning stages of the projects and then oversees with her designers all the details and execution of the homes all the way to the installation phase. Her designs are continually winning awards and her clients ask to work with her time and time again.

Q: How would you describe your personal style?

In two words…ever evolving. My style is reflective of my life at any given time. Right now I live in a bungalow near the beach, so I’m constantly in summer shift mode.

Q: Share 3 bits of design advice that you would give a new homeowner moving into their new place:

1.    First, don’t be overwhelmed by it! If you only purchase things you truly love whether it’s from retail, flea markets or specialty shops your personal style will begin to show and there will be a common thread that ties it all together and shows your unique tastes.
2.    Focus on the main living and everyday spaces first. The kitchen and great room are two of the most used rooms, so start there first.
3.    Get inspiration from magazines and on-line, Houzz and Pinterest are great places for ideas.
4.    Keep measurements of your rooms with you at all times, you never know when you might find that perfect piece of furniture or art.

Q: What Landsdowne Model Home is your favorite and why?

The Plan 1. It was designed for a single female buyer with a “Pretty in Punk” theme. It will be a high-style unique design that still is attainable for the buyer to do themselves.

Q: Who would you most like to collaborate with on a project?

Kelly Wearstler, I’m completely inspired by her designs. They are like walking into a piece of art. She has a classic yet forward and funky vibe.

Q: My 4 favorite paint colors this year are:

Mineral for a neutral, and for a pop of color I’m loving emerald green, H20-melon and Istan-blue.

Bay Meadows is celebrating our new models by giving away more than $500 in prizes to our Facebook fans. Click here to enter our exciting home design-themed Facebook sweepstakes! You could win a $500 gift card to Room&Board, or one of five $25 gift cards to The Container Store.

We asked CDC’s, Cassandra Timotti what she’d recommend from our give-away partners:

Q: What Container Store products do you recommend to homeowners who are just moving in and want to stay organized?

Their kitchen drawer and closet organizers are the best!

Q: What would you recommend from Room & Board to fit well within a Landsdowne Model Home by Shea Homes?

They have some really unique and limited edition artwork and their lamps would be perfect for these homes!

Mark your calendars: Landsdowne’s three model residences open August 17th.

For the latest in design and décor inspiration, visit our Bay Meadows Pinterest. We pin innovative design ideas daily!

Gardening 101: Garden-to-Table Guide

Inspired by Bay Meadows’ community garden and commitment to sustainability, we’re excited to announce our new blog series: Gardening 101!

For the first post in our “Gardening 101” blog series, we’ve gathered the best tips, tricks, and how-to’s for your summer garden-to-table projects. You can start a vegetable garden anywhere—front porch, boutique backyard, or apartment balcony. And now is the perfect time to start your at-home garden. Plant your garden today, and enjoy fresh vegetables in just a few short months! Sunset magazine has put together a fantastic garden-to-table guide, focused on small space vegetable gardens . We’ve shared some of our favorite tips below. Enjoy!

The One-Pot Vegetable Garden
Ideal for tomatoes, herbs, and peppers.

Pick popular ingredients: Before planting, ask one question: what do I want to eat this summer? Sunset recommends you choose ingredients you want to use throughout summer—tomatoes and basil are a summer staple for pasta, gazpacho, and Bloody Marys. So you’ll want to plant tomatoes, chives, basil, and peppers.

Leave enough space: Giving each plant enough room to grow is essential. Use a large container with drainage holes, or drill your own; Sunset recommends a feeding trough, measuring roughly 2 feet tall by 2 feet wide by 3 feet long.

Get a good start: Put your one-pot garden in a place that gets six to eight hours of sun a day, and fill it with fresh potting mix.

Best Crops for Pots
Ideal for tomatoes, leafy greens, herbs, squash, and peppers.
CUCUMBERS
Pot depth: 18 in.
Soil temperature: At least 70°.
Spacing: One plant per pot.
Bush types like ‘Bush Champion’ and disease-resistant ‘Salad Bush’ take up half the space of trailing types. ‘Lemon’ cuke (shown) also bears well on a trellis.

EGGPLANTS
Pot depth: 14-16 in.
Soil temperature: At least 70°.
Spacing: One or two plants per pot.
With their colorful fruits and attractive foliage, eggplants have outstanding ornamental value. Try ‘Black Beauty’, an American heirloom with bulbous, purple-black fruits, or ‘Little Fingers’ (shown), an Asian type with slim fruits.

PEPPERS
Pot depth: 14-16 in.
Soil temperature: At least 60°.
Spacing: One or two plants per pot.
Choose from an amazing array of colors, shapes, and heat levels, from mildly spicy ‘Anaheim’ to searing hot ‘Thai Dragon’. Among sweet peppers, try ‘Ariane’ (shown), an orange bell, or ‘Giant Marconi’, a long, red one that’s great for grilling.

Want more tips and planting info? Check out Sunset magazine’s detailed planting guide for the Bay Area.

ULI San Francisco Tours Bay Meadows

ULI San Francisco recently toured Bay Meadows. Check out a summary of their tour below, from the ULI Blog!

On a warm Thursday evening, forty people gathered at the Bay Meadows Commercial Marketing trailer, anxious to get a look into the newest developments of Bay Meadows Phase II. Previously the site of a major horse racetrack, Bay Meadows is no stranger to change. Phase II was officially adopted in 2005 by the San Mateo City Council, with Wilson Meany Sullivan as the project developer and Stockbridge Capital Group as the owner. Demolition of the racetrack and construction of the infrastructure began in 2008. The final design includes approximately 1,171 residential units, 750,000 square feet of office space and approximately 90,000 square feet of retail space. TRI Point Homes purchased the first available residential parcel and designed 63 townhomes with KTGY Architecture + Planning. The second parcel was purchased by Shea Homes, which set forth plans for 93 units from 1,150 to 2,200 square feet. Conveniently situated to the Hillsdale Caltrain Line, Bay Meadows provides a transportation option to the future residents and working professionals which does not involve a single passenger vehicle. As transportation is one of the major attractions to owners and renters in today’s market, Bay Meadows meets the South Bay market’s growing demand for transit-oriented development.

The tour was led by representatives from TRI Pointe, Shea Homes, and Wilson Meany. Attendees were shown the model of the completed Phase II site while the plans for transportation, open community space and specialty retail were described. The group was led past a rolling park space, aptly named Bay Meadows Park, which sits next to the future site of the second Nueva School. The first Nueva School became burdened with such high demand that it approached Bay Meadows unsolicited to purchase land to build a high school. The new high school will be designed by Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects, and will sit on 2.76 acres of Bay Meadows. The tour continued to the Welcome Center, a double wide trailer complete with a large front patio, living green wall, and iPads to provide interactive marketing materials for interested future residents. A lively discussion of the development details completed the tour, and the evening ended with a reception on the Welcome Center patio in the shade of the impressive living wall.