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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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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