Palo Alto-based R&M Properties filed plans to replace a single-story structure at 910 Marshall St. in Redwood City with a 21-story project consisting of 222 units for residents 55 and older, the San Francisco Business Times reported.

The 250-foot tower would be the city’s first new senior housing project in more than a decade. Should R&M secure a waiver under the state’s density bonus law, the project would exceed the city's height limit by 84%. As it would qualify as a senior housing development, there would be no affordable housing requirement.

Redwood City Council members had mixed responses to the proposal at a Monday meeting, with one likening it to the Empire State Building. The council offered feedback to R&M ahead of environmental review and review by the city’s architectural review board and Planning Commission.

The project would signal a shift, as Bay Area housing construction has stalled amid high interest rates and construction costs. Affordable housing in particular has been a nearly impossible proposition, as it rarely pencils.

With the artificial intelligence boom attracting workers, the strain on housing supply is only expected to increase, as was the case in the late 2010s, when companies like Meta, Google and Apple grew headcounts rapidly and drove up housing prices. Efforts by those companies to address the issue had mixed results.

Multifamily housing demand far outpaced supply this year, according to CBRE, with an absorption-to-completion ratio of 4.3 for San Francisco and the Peninsula, compared to 2.3 for the U.S. overall. In the second quarter, overall Bay Area rents grew by 3.7% year-over-year. Rent growth increased by 5.4% for San Francisco and the Peninsula, and quarterly deliveries decreased to 1,836 units in Q2.