A long surface parking lot next door to Mountain View City Hall will be replaced with apartments for low-income families, after the Mountain View City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to lease the city-owned property to an affordable housing developer.
The project, located along Bryant Street between California and Mercy streets, includes 120 apartments in five-story buildings facing downtown, tapering down to three stories as it approaches single-story homes to the west. It also has ground-floor retail and community space, designed with the intent to attract pedestrians, in sharp contrast to the “dead zones” created by office buildings in the downtown area.
The 7-0 vote has been a long time coming, with the city spending the last six years considering what to do with the 1.5-acre property known as “Lot 12.” In 2015, the city flagged affordable housing and hotels as uses for two…