The East Palo Alto Waterfront Project
We believe that development can be a powerful tool when harnessed to lift the people and voices of a community for collective benefit.
Emerson Collective is committed to responsible development. We hope to bolster an already thriving and inclusive community by focusing on job creation, attainable housing, environmental innovation in concert with the Bay, and ongoing community engagement.
Our vision is to create a joyous space that advances community well-being, health, and resiliency. While facilitating economic security and entrepreneurship for East Palo Alto residents, the project will also serve as a place to learn, gather, shop, play, and celebrate. In order to achieve this, we have co-created the vision of the East Palo Alto Waterfront with the many diverse voices of the community through a series of individual, small and large conversations.
Our interest in the East Palo Alto Waterfront is grounded in a history of deep community work in East Palo Alto and a long-term commitment to its future.
Development Applications
Join us as we continue to collaborate with the community to shape the future of a thriving EPA at the Waterfront.
Over the course of more than a hundred community events, workshops, and conversations, the community co-designed the vision for the East Palo Alto Waterfront.
The design workshops were well attended by residents and all of the meeting recaps are available here.
Taking into account all of the community input, we submitted a Master Plan Pre-Application to the City in July 2020, and a revised version in December 2021 that can be viewed below.
In March of 2024, the City of EPA adopted an updated Housing Element in order to meet the city’s housing needs, which includes new zoning for housing in the Ravenswood Business District. The City of EPA also released a draft Specific Plan update in April 2024 that includes many of the same community priorities shared during our community-centered design process. We heard the what is important to the community, and in June 2024 submitted an updated Housing and Open Space pre-application.
We incorporated feedback from the community and the City of EPA into the latest project design included in the Entitlement Application submission in Nov 2024.
You can view the applications below.
Render 1 of 5: Housing at the EPA Waterfront
Render 2 of 5: The Plaza
Render 3 of 5: Sand bloom
Render 4 of 5: Seating grove
Render 5 of 5: Waterfront park promenade
Our Guiding Principles
Co-designing with the Community
Over the course of more than a hundred community events, workshops, and conversations, the community codesigned the vision for the East Palo Alto Waterfront. If you missed these events, you can view the meeting summaries and recordings here.
Additional Resources
We continue to learn about best practices in community development. Here are some articles across a variety of related topics.