Burlingame Town Square, Bay Trail and El Camino: The Future of Burlingame
The new Burlingame Town Square is one of more than half a dozen projects changing Burlingame right now, and each one matters if you own here or plan to buy here. From downtown to the Bay Trail, El Camino Real, the schools and the parks, the city is investing in itself, which is a big reason Burlingame remains one of the most desirable places to live on the San Francisco Peninsula.
I'm Raziel Ungar, and I grew up in Burlingame and have been selling homes here for 21 years. Below, I walk through each change and what it means for Burlingame real estate.
Burlingame in Changing
What Is the New Burlingame Town Square?
The Burlingame Town Square is a new public gathering space about 100 feet south of Burlingame Avenue, built on the site of the old Burlingame post office. The U.S. Postal Service sold the historic post office in 2014, and the city and the community spent over a decade shaping the project with Sares Regis, the developer behind it.
The project includes a 6-story office building and the restored post office, which will house an 8,000 s/f high-end restaurant from the Bacchus Management Group, the operator behind the Village Pub in Woodside. Inside, you can still see where the old mail slots were.
How a 1,010-Ton Post Office Moved Twice
Because the post office is historic, the builders lifted the 1,010-ton building, put it on rollers, and rolled it across the lot so they could build underneath its original spot. When construction was done, they rolled it back.
What You Will Find at the Town Square
The Town Square already hosts events throughout the summer, including live music, Sunday Zumba, a hula hoop party and balloon art, and it has room for 500 to 1,000 people. It has a mural celebrating Burlingame High School and downtown Burlingame, a foosball table, cornhole and a new public restroom, which downtown did not have before. The square connects to Lorton Avenue and the shops and restaurants around it, so downtown now has a real center.
How Does the Hotel Tax Fund Burlingame?
Burlingame's hotel tax, known as the transient occupancy tax (TOT), is one of the city's 3 biggest sources of revenue, along with property taxes and sales tax. Most of the San Francisco airport hotels are in the city of Burlingame, east of 101, where no one lives, so the city collects a large share of revenue from an area that has no homes.
The TOT has been 12% for the last 17 years, and the city wants to raise it to 15%, most likely at the end of 2026.
| Burlingame Hotel Tax (TOT) | Figure |
|---|---|
| Current tax rate | 12% (unchanged for 17 years) |
| Proposed tax rate | 15% |
| Annual revenue before COVID | About $29M |
| Annual revenue last year | About $22M |
| Added revenue per year at 15% | About $5.7M |
More revenue means more capacity for parks and recreation, downtown and infrastructure. For a buyer, that shows up in everyday service. When a tree falls in Burlingame, someone from the city is usually there within 20-30 minutes, and someone from the police department is directing traffic. The city is very well run, and to my knowledge it did not lay off a single person during COVID, when budgets across San Mateo County were hit hard.
What Is Changing Along the Burlingame Bay Trail?
The Bay Trail along the Burlingame waterfront is not yet continuous, and the city's goal is to connect it from Coyote Point to the Marriott. Some sections today are rougher, with older paving and concrete, and a few stretches are not connected.
Once you get on the trail by Bayside Park, off Broadway, you can bike, walk or run south for 13 miles to Redwood Shores without hitting a stoplight, a stop sign or a car. Connecting the northern part of Burlingame to that stretch would make the waterfront a much bigger lifestyle amenity.
The Millbrae-Burlingame Shoreline Resilience Project
The Millbrae-Burlingame Shoreline Resilience Project is the long-term plan to protect the waterfront from sea level rise. The project area covers the whole Bay waterfront, including the airport, the water treatment plants, Highway 101, hotels, restaurants and R&D campuses. Foster City is ahead of the curve with a $90M levee around the entire city, and Burlingame is being proactive with this plan. The environmental review is scheduled to be completed in fall 2026.
What Is Happening on El Camino Real in Burlingame?
El Camino Real in Burlingame is under a major Caltrans reconstruction that will run through 2029. The project is removing 382 trees and planting 429 new trees, and it is fixing failing road sections and repairing sidewalks along the corridor.
El Camino is a state highway, and the large eucalyptus trees had grown into the street, which made it hard and unsafe to pull out of side streets. The construction is a headache for everyone who lives along the corridor, but it is a necessary one. Burlingame's stretch of El Camino is the prettiest on the Peninsula, and once the new trees grow, we will get the canopy back along with better infrastructure and a better streetscape.
What Does the $100M School Bond Mean for Burlingame Homeowners?
The Burlingame School District trustees voted to put a $100M bond on the November 2026 ballot to maintain and upgrade older school infrastructure. The district includes 6 public elementary schools and 1 public middle school, BIS, and the bond would pay for re-piping, building upgrades and Wi-Fi.
The bond would cost $25 per $100,000 of assessed value, so a homeowner with a $3M assessed value would pay under $1,000 a year. It is not cheap to live here, but strong schools are one of the main reasons people move to Burlingame, and they support property values.
How BCE Supports Burlingame Schools
The Burlingame Community for Education Foundation (BCE) raises about $3M a year and gives it to the school district as a grant. That funding supports about 20 additional teachers for programs like art, music and PE, which state funding does not cover.
How Are Burlingame Parks Improving?
Burlingame's parks department keeps investing and keeps asking residents for input, including on dog parks and small pocket parks. The new $52M Burlingame Community Center in Washington Park opened in the last couple of years, and it is a world-class facility.
The city also emails residents about field openings, closures and summer off-leash hours. That small-town responsiveness is part of what makes Burlingame special. Local groups like the Rotary Club and the Lions Club meet here, and the new police chief recently spoke at a Rotary meeting at the community center.
What Do These Changes Mean for Burlingame Real Estate on the SF Peninsula?
These projects show a city investing in its people, infrastructure and beauty, which supports Burlingame's premium on the SF Peninsula. Average and median prices in Burlingame are now over $3M, and the city has always been expensive.
Burlingame averages 10-15 home sales per month. For prices to stay flat, about 10-15 buyers a month need to be ready to buy at the asking price. When more buyers than that are active, prices rise, and that is what I am seeing on the ground as more buyers gain liquidity, move up or downsize. Single family home prices in the county rose 8% from the end of Q4 2025 to the end of Q1 2026, and Burlingame saw similar numbers. I also expect more liquidity later this year from major IPOs such as Anthropic, OpenAI and SpaceX.
People who buy in Burlingame usually do not move. Many people I grew up with who went away for college or work have come back if they could.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is the Burlingame Town Square?
The Burlingame Town Square is about 100 feet south of Burlingame Avenue, on the site of the old Burlingame post office near Lorton Avenue. The historic post office building is becoming an 8,000 s/f high-end restaurant.
How much will the Burlingame school bond cost homeowners?
The proposed $100M Burlingame School District bond would cost $25 per $100,000 of assessed value. For a home assessed at $3M, that is under $1,000 a year.
How long will the El Camino Real construction in Burlingame last?
The Caltrans reconstruction of El Camino Real in Burlingame is set to run through 2029. It replaces 382 trees with 429 new ones and fixes the road and sidewalks.
What is Burlingame's hotel tax rate?
Burlingame's hotel tax has been 12% for the last 17 years, and the city wants to raise it to 15%. The increase would bring in about $5.7M more per year.
The new Town Square, the Bay Trail, El Camino, the schools and the parks all point the same way: Burlingame keeps investing in itself. If you are thinking about buying or selling in Burlingame or anywhere in San Mateo County, I would love to talk through what these changes mean for you.
This article is copyrighted by Raziel Ungar and may not be reproduced or copied without express written permission.
