Downtown Lot T Affordable Housing Community Open House

Published on November 24, 2025

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Downtown Lot T Affordable Housing Community Open House

The community is invited to drop by anytime to an open house hosted by Alta Housing and the City, to meet the project team developing plans to bring 72 units of affordable housing to Downtown Palo Alto.

Learn about preliminary plans and future programming, share ideas and ask questions. The proposed housing development is located on Lot T at the corner of Kipling and Lytton and is one of several anticipated affordable housing development opportunities that are foundational to advancing the City’s Certified 2023–2031 Housing Element.

 

Event Details

  • Date & Time: Monday, December 1, 2025 4:30–7:30 p.m. (drop by anytime)
  • Location: Avenidas, 450 Bryant St, Palo Alto, CA 94301

 

Project Overview

In early 2025, the City Council selected Alta Housing as their development partner for a 100% affordable housing project on the City-owned surface parking lot, Lot T. Alta Housing will incorporate the feedback from the project's recent October 22, 2025 Council study session and from this community open house into a development application that will be submitted in early 2026.

  • The preferred approach aims to deliver approximately 72 homes in a six-story building.
  • The Lot T project advances the City’s Housing Element goals and helps meet Palo Alto’s housing requirements.

 

What to Expect Next

Alta Housing will incorporate community input into a planning application.

City staff will review the application for completeness and policy consistency. The project will follow a streamlined review process, including one to two Architecture Review Board study sessions and a City Council hearing.

City Council is expected to consider the project and an associated Development Agreement in mid-2026.

 

More About the Project

In January 2025, following a request for refined proposals, the City Council selected Alta Housing as its development partner for a 100% affordable community at Lot T and began focused design work. The project is expected to include a long-term ground lease for the site and a City funding contribution to be confirmed later in the process. The City Council also re-initiated the design of a six-story garage structure to provide replacement public parking on Lot D, the City-owned parking lot at the corner of Waverley Street and Hamilton Avenue.

 

More About the City’s Commitment to Affordable Housing

Palo Alto has long been a leader in the production of affordable housing and currently has the second highest inventory of affordable housing of cities in Santa Clara County (as a percentage of total housing stock). Over $57 million has been contributed or pledged towards affordable housing since 2017, with approximately 2,300 units or ~9% of total housing stock dedicated to affordable housing (deed restricted).

Learn More

Background on the Project

 

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