The Shops at Tanforan, an established mall in San Bruno, is closing permanently after a long period of decline to make way for a massive biotech campus.
Alexandria Real Estate, a Pasadena-based company, bought the Tanforan lot in 2022 and began drafting plans to construct the campus. The $328 million 44-acre lot proposal includes over 1,000 housing units. This new campus will also bring office space and a mixed retail center, intended to turn the area into a central spot for San Bruno.
The preliminary application proposes to replace the existing mall with a transit-focused mixed-use village that seeks to retain and upgrade Target and refresh the Century movie theater to accommodate the modern movie-going experience.
“It also includes a meaningful residential component of the project to help our city meet its state-mandated Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) housing obligations,” said past San Bruno city manager Jovan D. Grogan in an e-newsletter.
While San Bruno has been the home of many Silicon Valley companies including YouTube’s headquarters, the town has seen comparatively fewer construction projects than other Peninsula towns. Tanforan Mall also hasn’t had any significant renovations since its expansion in 2005 that revamped the mall. Many shoppers believe it’s been long overdue for an overhaul, especially after the financial struggles from the COVID-19 pandemic.
It was evident to many shoppers that the Shops at Tanforan were far from thriving. Many stores at Tanforan have closed down recently because of the lack of foot traffic. The mall’s routine cleaning and upkeep have been slowing down, and the mall has been described as unsanitary by many recent patrons. Issues relating to robbery and assault are also periodic at the mall. To combat this, stores like Target at Tanforan Mall have locked up large amounts of their products.
San Bruno has also been struggling due to its lack of a satisfactory spot for residents to go.
“Tanforan has struggled to capture the opportunity to create a place for the city to enjoy, shop, and connect with others,” said San Bruno resident Cynthia Morgan.
Rico Medina, the mayor of San Bruno shared a similar sentiment.
“The mall brings in the folks that you hope to stay in the community and spend their money in the community,” Medina said. “There are currently no amenities in San Bruno. There have to be aspects for them to go to.”
It brings in the folks that you hope stay in the community and spend their money in the community. There are currently no amenities in San Bruno. There have to be aspects for them to go to. — Rico Medina
The new campus looks to fix this by focusing on recreating the idea of shopping and socializing in person by reinventing mall layouts and creating a big area with everything in it.
“I think this new biotech campus will improve the San Bruno area,” said Carlmont student Caden Moon.
The new housing units are also another way to bring people into San Bruno. They will help fulfill the requirements of housing increases in California brought about by current legislation passed by Gov. Gavin Newsom. The legislation also mandates 15% of all units must be low-income housing.
This issue of increased housing prices and gentrification around the area is a common subject for San Bruno residents. The buyers of the property and the City of San Bruno are actively addressing this.
“I think housing prices will still go up. Having amenities can help increase the desire to live in San Bruno. The 15% housing requirement will help stabilize the housing prices, though,” Medina said.
The site of Tanforan Mall is also a very historic place. In the past, it served as a Japanese internment camp. There is a beautiful memorial honoring all the people affected by the camps in Tanforan. This site is going to stay the same.
“The internment camp memorial is not on mall property, so the mall doesn’t have any control over it,” Medina said. “So, as it stands, the memorial will be unaffected and stay as is.”
Construction has yet to start, and the real estate company is still applying for permits. Even so, many San Bruno residents are looking forward to the campus’s vibrancy once it’s built.
“We have an ordinance that’s a three-story limit anywhere in the city. But the housing developer said we’re going to do ten stories because we want to,” Medina said.
