THE SITE AND ITS CONTEXT

Regional and City Context downtown area, which maintains retail uses Millbrae, where he lived until his death in that are more pedestrian oriented in scale and 1843. Much of the Sanchez property in the Millbrae is located in the northern portion of character. Higher density residential uses are vicinity of the station planning area was the San Francisco peninsula, 15 miles south generally located around the downtown; eventually sold to become a major portion of of San Francisco and immediately west of the along Richmond Drive, Broadway, and the the Mills estate (discussed below). San Francisco International Airport. The city southern end of Magnolia; at the occupies approximately 3.25 square miles of southwestern edge of the city near 1-280; and At the northwest corner of today's El Camino northern San Mateo County, and is bordered in pockets along the east side of the El Real and Millbrae Avenue, the "17-Mile by the city of San Bruno on the north, the Camino. The downtown contains 250 units House" was constructed in the 1840~.~The city of Burlingame on the south, San of housing, developed within mixed-use "mile houses" were built along the El Camino Francisco watershed lands on the west, and structures. from San Francisco to San Jose to serve the the San Francisco International Airport on the needs of travelers as stage stops and horse- east (Figure 1). Historical Overview' changing stations. With the advent of railroad service along this route in the 1860s, the mile Millbrae is a suburban residential community The Millbrae station planning area is located houses became obsolete, and the 17-Mile with a population of approximately 22,000. in one of the oldest areas of the city-an area The community is primarily composed of that has experienced many changes over the single-family neighborhoods developed over past century, and has always figured the east-facing slopes of the Coast Range, with prominently in the growth and development commercial and industrial uses located of the city. primarily along El Camino Real and the Highway 101 corridor. Millbrae has a well- After the division of lands in California by defined downtown retail district that is Spain and Mexico, Jose Antonio Sanchez, a focused along Broadway, generally between soldier at the Presidio of San Francisco, was Victoria and Meadow Glen avenues. As is the granted use and later title to Rancho Buri case along much of the peninsula, service- Buri, a 14,639-acre site on the peninsula oriented general commercial uses are primarily which included the area that is now Millbrae. focused along El Camino Real, except in the In 1835, Sanchez retired to a hacienda in Sanchez Adobe.

Site nnd Its Context