Big downtown San Mateo development gets boost from real estate deals

SAN MATEO — A big mixed-use office and housing development in downtown San Mateo is being greatly buoyed by several purchases of properties that are needed for the project.

Windy Hill Property Ventures has bought 11 parcels in downtown San Mateo for the proposed development, according to real estate deeds on file with government officials.

Over a period of about five weeks, Windy Hill Property has paid $44.7 million for the sites, with most of the purchases being completed this month, documents posted with the San Mateo County Recorder’s Office show.

The properties are located on a downtown San Mateo block that is bounded by East Third Avenue, South Delaware Street, East 4th Avenue and South Claremont Street, according to a plan set filed with city officials.

The development, which is currently known as Block 21, would consist of a single six-story building that would contain both housing and office spaces.

Block 21 would be a six-story building that is slated to include 111 residential units and offices totaling 179,600 square feet, the city plan sets show.

In the most recent purchase, completed on Aug. 2, Windy Hill Property Ventures paid $30.4 million to obtain eight parcels.

Prior to that deal, Windy Hill Property paid $9 million for one parcel on July 29 and another $5.3 million on June 30 for two parcels.

At the time of the most recent purchase, Windy Hill also obtained a loan of $29 million from Acore Capital Mortgage, the county property records show. The 11 parcels were the collateral for the financing.

“Windy Hill Property Ventures is known for our deliberate proximity to our investment properties in both multifamily and commercial markets,” according to the company’s website.

Real estate executives Tod Spieker and Jamie D’Alessandro co-founded Windy Hill in 2005, the company states on its website.

“We concentrate exclusively in San Francisco and the greater Silicon Valley,” according to the Windy Hill Property Ventures site.