The Palo Alto Architectural Review Board on July 3 approved a major architectural review and related permits for a renovation at 975 Page Mill Road in the Stanford Research Park, voting 5-0 to accept the project with conditions limiting permanent encroachments into the 50-foot special setback along Page Mill Road and Hanson Way.

City planner Christina Dobkaviches told the board the applicant seeks approval to remodel an existing 50,527-square-foot office building, replace much of the façade with large-format white terracotta panels and zinc-accent elements, enlarge windows, add a new double-height entry curtain wall and convert 3,769 square feet of ground-floor office to an eating-and-drinking (café) use via a conditional use permit. The applicant also requested a design enhancement exception to allow thin sunshades and vertical shadow boxes to project about one foot into the required 50-foot special setback on the Page Mill and Hanson Way frontages.

Why it matters: The project is intended to increase ground-floor activity in a low-activity corner of the research park and to attract small companies and startup programs supported by Stanford Research Park. The board’s decision balances that goal against long-standing City policy reserving a 50-foot setback for possible future roadway or public-realm improvements.

What the board approved and limited
- Approved: overall architectural changes, new terracotta rain-screen cladding, zinc accents, enlarged windows, a skylight and rooftop modifications to support photovoltaics; the conversion of 3,769 sq ft to a café (subject to the CUP process); and a design enhancement exception limited to the modest window sunshades and vertical fins that project roughly one foot above pedestrian level.
- Allowed: a public-facing patio on the Hanson Way side and a wide exterior stair connecting that patio to the building interior, as a design-exception element. The board said the stair is an important site amenity and a safer, more inviting connection than a narrow code-minimum stair.
- Limited/removed: the board required that the proposed stair, low wall and umbrella structures shown to encroach into the special setback along Page Mill Road be removed from the approved scope; it also directed the applicant to eliminate or minimize the continuous concrete retaining wall that runs parallel to Hanson Way. The board instructed staff and the applicant to limit other retaining walls to the minimum height necessary for soil retention and tree preservation.
- Follow-up option: if the applicant wishes to install a permanent enclosure or heavier fence along Hanson Way later, the board required that any such proposal be returned for ad hoc review; as a condition the board said any enclosure should be a visually open railing no taller than 3 feet unless further justified in a subsequent review.

Parking and site changes
Staff and the applicant said the project removes 43 existing substandard compact parking stalls and proposes 33 code-compliant spaces with wider drive aisles. Staff’s report concluded the project largely meets the findings required for architectural review, conditional use and a design enhancement exception but recommended that the plans be modified to remove stair, wall and shade-structure encroachments into the 50-foot special setbacks on both frontages.

Applicant presentation and rationale
Jamie Jarvis of Stanford Research Park said the project is “to adapt and reuse the existing building as a place for innovators, creators, and thought leaders to connect and collaborate,” describing a mix of a startup accelerator, learning studio, small offices, shared meeting spaces and a café. Architect Heather Young said the design intends to modernize a dated tilt-up concrete building by enlarging windows for daylight, adding terracotta panels with subtle ribbing, and placing trellises and shade elements to animate the ground plane. Landscape architect Marco Le described retaining walls needed to protect existing trees and the grade differences between the interior finish-floor and the public sidewalk.

Board concerns and deliberations
Board members asked detailed questions about the purpose of the 50-foot special setback — staff said it reserves room for future roadway or bikeway changes — and why certain elements (stairs, low concrete walls, umbrella mounts) were shown inside that setback. Staff maintained that at-grade paving and removable furnishings are allowed in the setback but that permanent structures or rails would require an exception. Several board members complimented the building design while expressing concern that permanent hard-edge walls along Hanson Way would create an excessively enclosed condition; others argued the patio and stair materially enhance the site and neighborhood activity.

Vote and next steps
Chair Rosenberg moved to recommend approval with the conditions described above; the motion was seconded and passed 5-0. The board recorded the vote as Adcock (yes), Georjard (yes), Hirsch (yes), Yang Shi (yes) and Rosenberg (yes).

The project will proceed to the Director of Planning and Development Services for final action incorporating the ARB conditions. The applicant indicated willingness to return to an ad hoc review if it seeks a permanent enclosure on Hanson Way.

Context and clarifications
- The project site is in the Stanford Research Park; the proposed café is intended primarily to serve employees in the park. Staff emphasized that the design exception request was limited to modest projections that do not increase usable floor area and that most projections would be above pedestrian height.
- Where the transcript used alternate spellings for Hanson/Hansen, the article standardizes to Hanson Way (the name used by staff during the hearing) for consistency.

Ending
With conditions aimed at preserving the city’s future right-of-way options while allowing a substantial façade modernization and a ground-level activation strategy, the ARB’s unanimous recommendation clears the way for the applicant to move the design into final review and permit processing.