San Rafael apartment building proposed in business zone

The owner of a vacant office building in northern San Rafael is hoping to convert the space into about 20 apartments.

The 10,644-square-foot building at 160 Mitchell Blvd. has been vacant since shortly before the coronavirus pandemic triggered lockdown restrictions in California, according to the property owner, Aaron Lamstein.

“Even before the pandemic, this area of San Rafael was experiencing very high vacancy rates,” Lamstein told the city Planning Commission this month. “This pandemic has really dealt a death blow to the area.”

Lamstein is seeking a change in the property’s zoning designation that would allow him to turn the building into residences. The 1.3-acre site is zoned for “planned development” and is primarily surrounded by light industrial properties, according to city officials.

Lamstein bought the building in 2002 and initially used it as office space for his company’s 60 employees. He began leasing it to another business in 2015, but the space is now “effectively unrentable as an office building,” he said.

Lamstein has submitted pre-application documents to the city and sought feedback from the Planning Commission on his proposal during a hearing on Feb. 9.

“With the COVID situation and all the empty spaces and shortage of housing, these are the types of innovative projects we need to be looking to,” said Berenice Davidson, a commissioner.

But Davidson said she was concerned the project could set a precedent for the neighborhood that could result in more property owners seeking to convert their buildings to residences.

“As soon as you introduce housing into the industrial zoning, eventually housing will take over,” she said.

Rick Williams, the architect for Lamstein’s project, said the plan is to keep the existing building frame and remodel the inside. The building would include 17 to 20 studio apartments and one or two two-bedroom residences. There are 21 parking spaces on the site.

“Parking is already there, the building is already there, and what we’re doing it fitting it out to a new use,” he said.

The apartments would be “affordable by design” because of their small size and would rent for roughly $1,400 per month, Williams said. Each residence would include a kitchen, bathroom, living room, sleeping space and a washer and dryer, he said. Common spaces would include a gym and office.

The apartments would be “tailored toward allowing our young folks to be able to stay in Marin or move back to Marin and live here,” Williams said.

David Swig, who owns a nearby building zoned for light industrial use, said he was concerned that allowing residences in the neighborhood could limit the use of industrial space in close proximity.

According to a city report, certain businesses that are normally allowed to operate in areas zoned for light industrial use are not allowed within 300 feet of a residential district without a permit from the city. Those include food manufacturing, candle making, furniture repair and packaging businesses, the report says.

But the project could help San Rafael beef up its housing stock, said Samina Saude, a planning commissioner.

Between 2015 and 2023, the state’s Regional Housing Needs Assessment asks San Rafael to issue building permits for 1,007 new residences, including 388 for low-income households. So far, the city has permitted 242 new residences since 2015, including 60 low-income homes.

“We have a housing shortage. We have an affordable housing shortage,” Saude said. “I think that this may actually be the type of housing that we’re lacking the most.”