"Market limitations with rental competition and limited stacked condominum comparables."
That line, typo included, comes from a slide Harmonie Park Development showed the Hillsborough Town Council on June 8, 2026. It explains why the first plan for the Town-owned Tobin Clark site was dropped, and why the current one looks the way it does. The townhomes and custom lots now in the concept would do more than add housing. Under the consultant's financial strategy, they are the part of the project that pays for the roads, water lines and grading that the affordable homes depend on.
If you are weighing a move to Hillsborough, or you already own here and follow Town business, this reasoning tells you more about the local market than any median price. In this town, the type of new housing is being set by two things: what hillside infrastructure costs, and which kinds of homes have enough local sales history to get financed and sold.
The plan that didn't pencil
The Tobin Clark parcel is a hillside of about 21.5 acres. It is part of the more than 50 acres the Town owns next to the College of San Mateo. The Town's Housing Element lists it for 100 multifamily units: 44 very low income, 6 moderate income and 50 market rate.
The first concept tested was two podium buildings. One was a 50- to 58-unit market-rate building for sale or rent. The other held 51 affordable units. Each would have been 4.5 to 5 stories over two levels of parking. Harmonie Park noted that this version used the smallest development footprint of anything it studied.
It failed for three reasons listed in the June presentation:
- Very high construction costs for the buildings and the podium parking
- High infrastructure costs, driven by a looped water system requirement and where the utility tie-ins are located
- A thin market, with competition from rentals and few stacked-condominium sales to compare against
The consultant concluded that the market-rate podium building was "not financially feasible." The affordable building could still draw several kinds of capital funding, but only "if infrastructure and site costs could be covered through a financially viable market rate program."
The third reason matters most. Lenders, appraisers and developers price new homes against recent nearby sales. Hillsborough has very few condominium sales to point to, so a stacked condo building would have been priced largely on guesswork. The project's numbers could not depend on that.
What replaced it, and what each piece is for
The revised master plan calls for about 92 to 94 homes. Roughly 9.5 acres would be developed, and more than 12 acres would remain open space. Here is how the pieces fit together, using the presentation's own description of each one's role:
| Component | Count | Role in the plan |
|---|---|---|
| Affordable building | 51 units, 50 affordable plus 1 market-rate manager's unit | Eligible for "various capital sources" once infrastructure is covered |
| Townhomes | 24 market-rate, 4 per footprint | Lower building cost per square foot, higher sale price per square foot |
| Custom lots | 10 market-rate, with potential for ADUs | Sold "utility ready," producing revenue at limited added cost |
| Community space | 1 lot | Onsite benefit for Hillsborough residents |
The financial strategy slide states the logic plainly: "Market rate portion of project supports the high infrastructure costs." The custom lots are especially efficient. The new roads and utilities have to be built anyway, so each lot along them becomes a parcel ready for sale without much extra cost.
Townhomes make sense for the same reason the condos did not. According to the consultant, they cost less per square foot to build and sell for more per square foot. In a town of large detached homes, a townhome is the attached format with the clearest path to a price someone will pay. The presentation also says the mixed approach "better aligns with surrounding Hillsborough context" because it varies building heights and massing.
The Town has its own goals for the site. It wants to keep ownership of most of the land and to create onsite community benefits for residents. The revised plan keeps Town ownership of more than half the property.
Where the numbers don't line up yet
The Housing Element target is 100 multifamily units. The revised concept comes to about 92 to 94 homes, and that total counts detached custom lots that are not multifamily. The presentation does not explain how the mix maps onto the original target, including how the 44 very low income and 6 moderate income units would be split within the 50-unit affordable building. The Town or its consultant will need to settle that in later phases.
The site is one part of a larger obligation. A Town staff report dated August 8, 2022, puts Hillsborough's 2023–2031 Regional Housing Needs Allocation at 554 units: 155 very low, 89 low, 87 moderate and 223 above moderate. The same report adds a 111-unit "no net loss" buffer, for 665 units in total planning capacity. Within that plan, Tobin Clark is the Town-owned site meant to carry a large share of the lower-income units in one place. That helps explain why one appendix slide is titled "Ensuring Readiness by 2031."
Constraints the market-rate homes have to carry
The infrastructure costs are high because of the site itself. Harmonie Park lists steep slopes, limited buildable areas, biological and environmental constraints, no existing onsite infrastructure, and access challenges. The slide also says "new high-cost roadways and utilities will be required." Access depends partly on ongoing discussions with the College of San Mateo, which appear on the consultant's list of next steps. The presentation also flags "a smaller developer pool who take on complex, smaller projects."
Hillsborough resident Jeanne Back wrote to the Council before the June 8 meeting and described the same dynamic from a neighbor's side. She said her comments were "not intended as blanket opposition to housing." She also noted that the current proposal "relies upon a broader development footprint, including townhomes, estate lots, and additional market-rate components, to support infrastructure costs." She asked the Town to study habitat fragmentation, wildlife movement and wildfire considerations. She also asked that environmental review "not become merely confirmatory of decisions that are already effectively locked into place."
Her letter and the consultant's slides describe the same cause and effect. When the infrastructure costs more, the market-rate side of the project has to grow to pay for it. Any change in grading, access or utility costs during later phases could change how many townhomes or lots the plan needs.
The calendar from here
The June 8 agenda listed the item as "Tobin Clark Housing Site Update and Authorization for Implementation of Phase II of the Project." We could not review the meeting minutes or the vote, so everything above describes the concept as presented to Council. It is not an approved project. The consultant's proposed schedule:
- Phase 2A, about 120 days, mid-June to October 2026: a neighborhood meeting, an outreach survey, a refined site plan, townhome and custom-lot concepts, an updated engineer's estimate, fire department coordination and continued access discussions with the College of San Mateo
- Phase 2B, about 100 days, November 2026 to January 2027: planning refined based on outreach, a community benefit package, updated financial modeling, a draft CEQA and entitlement approach, and another neighborhood meeting
- Phase III, about 285 days or more: a request for proposals, developer selection, a term sheet and a development agreement
Two dates are close. The Town's 2023–2031 Housing Element page lists "Tobin Clark Housing Study Sessions - Two Dates (10/12 and 10/26)." The Town calendar shows the October 26 session at 6:00 PM in the Town Hall Council Chambers, 1600 Floribunda Avenue, with remote access by Zoom. Both sessions fall at the end of Phase 2A. That is when the refined site plan and revised engineer's estimate are due, and those two documents will show whether the market-rate mix still covers the infrastructure costs.
A few common questions
Will the townhomes be for sale, and at what price? The June presentation calls them "market rate townhomes" and describes higher prices per square foot for sale. It gives no prices, and no developer has been selected yet.
Is the Town selling the land? One of the Town's stated goals is to keep ownership of most of the land, and the revised plan keeps more than 50% under Town ownership. The terms with a future developer belong to Phase III.
Where can I read the source material? The Harmonie Park presentation from June 8, 2026 and the June 8 Council agenda are both posted on the Town's website.
If you are deciding whether Hillsborough fits your plans and want to understand how a project like Tobin Clark might affect a particular street or property, Filipina Opena can review the public record with you and talk through what it means for your timing. Let's Connect.
