You Won't Believe How Long This Bay Area Development Has Been Dragging On!

Photo by Rebecca Williamson | License
San Mateo’s Bay Meadows site has been playing the longest game of real estate musical chairs, and we’re finally seeing the finish line after nearly two decades of urban development limbo.
Remember horse racing? Yeah, that’s ancient history now. What was once a bustling racetrack has transformed into a sleek, modern development that’s been inching towards completion slower than Silicon Valley internet speeds.
From Horses to Pixels
The property’s journey is a quintessential Bay Area story: a prime piece of real estate that weathered the Great Recession, pivoted through tech booms, and somehow managed to stay relevant. The crown jewel? Roblox’s headquarters, which anchors this mixed-use complex like a digital oasis in suburban sprawl.
The Numbers Game
Let’s talk stats: 83 acres, seven planned buildings, and only five completed so far. Developer Wilson Meany is now submitting permits for the final two buildings, which will add 303,000 square feet of office space, ground-floor retail, and 67 housing units. In a market where empty office spaces are becoming more common than working coffee machines, this development is surprisingly 88% leased.
The Bay Area Development Rollercoaster
While San Francisco struggles with endless permitting processes, San Mateo apparently operates on a different wavelength. Here, submitting permits means a 180-day countdown to actual construction begins - imagine that level of efficiency in our fog-laden tech metropolis!
Talk about playing the long game - Bay Meadows is proof that in the Bay Area, patience isn’t just a virtue, it’s a development strategy.
AUTHOR: rjv
SOURCE: SFist