The Woodland Park Redevelopment — Housing vs. Displacement

active• eastpaloalto

The most urgent and contentious development decision facing East Palo Alto in 2026 is Sand Hill Property Company's West Bayshore Newell Improvements Project. Sand Hill is proposing to build more than 1,300 residential units and renovate or demolish hundreds of existing apartments in East Palo Alto's Woodland Park neighborhood — a preliminary application currently going through the Planning Commission that received mixed reviews from commissioners wary of gentrification in a city known for its diverse population and affordable housing. The stakes are acute: Woodland Park contains a large proportion of the city's affordable housing stock, much of which is already owned by Sand Hill — meaning the same developer seeking to build new market-rate units controls the affordable units that current working-class residents depend on. Commissioner Javanni Brown-Austin captured the tension precisely: "We want to be able to do this with developers that are respectable thought partners."

Related cause: Housing Affordability

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