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Uploaded: Thursday, December 6, 2012, 7:37 AM
SRI proposes big changes in Menlo Park campus
R&D giant would remove 33 buildings and build 13
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by Dave Boyce
Almanac Staff
Big changes are in the works for the 63-acre campus of SRI International. The nonprofit innovation powerhouse sits a few blocks east of downtown Menlo Park and is often on the cutting edge of research and development despite its facilities in 38 fairly old buildings built over three mid-20th-century decades.
A plan on file with the Menlo Park Planning Department and dated Nov. 29 describes a 25-year plan that SRI proposes to "revitalize and upgrade" its campus without changing the overall size of its footprint.
The plan shows 33 of the existing buildings coming down and 13 taking their places, including three at 64 feet high (five stories plus basements), one at 56 feet, and five at 48 feet. The total floor area of 1.4 million square feet would be 11 percent under the allowance in SRI's conditional development permit, the plan says.
One component of the plan: a new "research campus" zoning district that appears to be designed to allow SRI's plan to go forward. The City of Menlo Park and its Planning Commission can rule on major developments on the SRI campus.
The city has asked SRI to post its entire plan on its website, SRI Senior Vice President Tom Furst said. "That's not accomplished yet, but we will let you know when that is accomplished," he added.
The company employs 1,300 people in Menlo Park and has facilities in Japan, the United Arab Emirates, throughout the United States, and in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, where SRI operates the radio-telescope observatory. The plan proposes an upper limit of 3,000 employees in Menlo Park, which is 10 percent under the number allowed by SRI's permit.
SRI's clients include corporations large and small, for-profit and nonprofit organizations, as well as government agencies at all levels here and abroad. Among its federal clients: the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the National Institutes of Health, NASA, the National Science Foundation, and the federal departments of defense, education, energy and transportation.
At this campus, bordered by Ravenswood Avenue, Middlefield Road and Laurel Street, the plans show an outdoor amphitheater, extensive vegetative screening to create a "shady, soft edge that will be visually appealing to neighbors and passersby," and nine pedestrian entrances governed by turnstiles, with six of them apparently set up for secure access.
The work appears be divided into three phases, with reconstruction following demolition sector by sector in each of three areas of the campus. The plans do not include timelines or cost estimates. Among the anticipated effects are greater energy efficiency, a greener footprint and better access for pedestrians and cyclists.
The plan shows the upgraded campus using 10 percent less electricity, 7.6 percent less water and 1.7 percent more natural gas. The extensive recycling program would include composting, turning used cooking oil into bio-diesel fuel, and collection of batteries, light bulbs and vehicle tires.
Of the 1,287 trees on the campus, 520 are considered heritage trees, meaning they cannot be arbitrarily cut down. The plan shows arborists recommending the felling of 35 heritage trees. The project as presented would add another 56 for a total of 91 heritage trees cut down, all done through tree-removal permits from the city. The plan proposes replanting 10 heritage trees.
Remarkably, there would be many fewer parking spaces. The current 3,244 would drop to 2,444, including 519 in a parking structure. Much of the current parking is "unused" and will not be needed in the foreseeable future, the plan says.
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Posted by Frugal, a resident of the Menlo Park: Central Menlo Park neighborhood, on Dec 6, 2012 at 12:27 pm 1.4 million square feet. Anyone know what's there now.
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Posted by buildings, a resident of the Menlo Park: Downtown neighborhood, on Dec 6, 2012 at 1:07 pm There are old buildings there now. They want to replace them with new buildings. This is a private campus that is off limits to the public anyway, so it shouldn't have much effect on the community, aside from construction issues.
Despite the diverse list of projects mentioned in this article, my understanding is that the majority of their work currently is and always has been military related. SRI used to be called the Stanford Research Institute and was owned by Stanford University, but the university divested itself during the Vietnam War.
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Posted by SRI Community Relations, a resident of the Menlo Park: other neighborhood, on Dec 6, 2012 at 1:28 pm
Thank you for the question, Frugal.
SRI is requesting 1.38 million square feet. That is exactly equal to the existing square footage today. It is 11 percent less than what SRI's Conditional Development Permit currently allows.
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Posted by Great news, a resident of the Menlo Park: Linfield Oaks neighborhood, on Dec 6, 2012 at 7:53 pm Sounds as though SRI is doing well, and more power to them. The campus is not in danger of being plowed under so that 20,000 low income housing units can be built.
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Posted by Proceed With Caution, a resident of the Menlo Park: Menlo Oaks neighborhood, on Dec 6, 2012 at 8:59 pm Yes, more power to them. SRI has been a good and quiet neighbor and hopefully its growth will be as a result of government programs to benefit civilization rather than destroy it. Aside from that, it's important to note that the campus is bordered by two local access roads that were never intended to support significant traffic. As it is, Middlefield and Ringwood get very backed up at certain times of the day, so it will be interesting to hear what the plan will be to manage construction vehicles going in and out of the property. The other concern is building height -- no matter how much vegetation they plant to create a "soft edge", it's not going to obscure a 5-story building in the middle of a residential neighborhood. Hope they'll take that into consideration.
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Posted by old timer, a resident of the Menlo Park: Central Menlo Park neighborhood, on Dec 7, 2012 at 4:55 am Anyone who has been around here for some time knows that SRI in years past has proposed big changes to their campus, only to pull back because they are barely surviving economically. Renting out space to others, selling off pieces for housing have kept the place going in the past. Maybe doing better now?
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Posted by Good SRI, a resident of the Menlo Park: Allied Arts/Stanford Park neighborhood, on Dec 7, 2012 at 9:28 am Its not a residential neighborhood. SRI has been a very good business for Menlo Park for decades. They run a professional campus with world class staff and scientists.
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Posted by Garrett, a resident of another community, on Dec 7, 2012 at 2:15 pm Willow/Sand Hill Rd Light Rail or Rapid Bus Lane.
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Posted by manage traffic, a resident of the Menlo Park: Central Menlo Park neighborhood, on Dec 10, 2012 at 9:06 am It would be interesting to compare the traffic today and what would result in the future from this project. It is good that they don't expect to need as many parking spaces, but remember that Menlo Park's parking requirements have changed.
This is a wonderful institution. Aren't they nonprofit, so pay no tax revenue on what they do?
BTW - they currently sublease space to Stanford, which has cleverly exported its people and traffic out of Santa Clara County and into ours.
Let's just be sure that this project's traffic doesn't increase from today's nearly intolerable levels.
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