The same thing is happening to downtown Sunnyvale (4-5 story condos going up on top of street-level retail) and Mountain View (10 story towers going up around San Antonio, with the giant strip mall being converted into mixed-use condos + shops). The same may happen with North Bayshore - Google's building its new tent campus, and the plan includes up to 10-story residential buildings on street-level retail. There's still a lot of resistance from local residents, but the development tide seems to have turned.

With everybody complaining about how expensive SF is and how terrible the commute is, it seems to me like a more likely solution is to bring the city to Mountain View rather than bring all the workers from the city to Mountain View.

Thank goodness they finally developed San Antonio shopping center. Been going there since I was a child when there was a Payless drugs store (I think?) where the Safeway now is, and it had been basically dead for a decade between 2003-2013 or thereabouts.

Of course there are many many more places like this along El Camino, and Vallco is probably never getting redeveloped due to resident opposition against mixed use develeopment including high density housing.

Electric cars don't do anything to reduce the # of cars on the freeways, which is the main problem discussed in the article.

The number of cars on freeways is only a problem that needs to be addressed when they are causing significant negative externalities.

I hadn't been there in 10 years until last weekend and was shocked at how transformed it had become. It has definitely kept up with the times. (I was also a fan of the weekend parking at Box Inc. Parking with validation at stores.

Redwood City has had that parking system for over a decade, with several large parking garages and lots. The city insisted Box be part of it.

Great move especially compared to downtown palo alto/MV or increasingly downtown Los altos.