That Church has been like that for several months, if not years. I'm not sure what they're doing with that land, and I too would like to know.

The AME Zion church on Ramona and the French Laundry building are both being rehabilitated as part of a new mixed use development. Last I heard the French Laundry was being taken away during the initial stages of construction, but parts of it will be returned and incorporated into the design.

An Architectural Review Board report is available with excruciating :) detail of the project:

Web Link

Thanks for the web reference. I see they are expected to have a public plaza. I hope their architect does better than the so called plaza on the corner of High and Channing which is the most unfriendly unusable public plaza imaginable.

No, believe it or not, the buidling that no one wanted, even the owners of the church and the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, was saved because of a 'passionate' crusader for 'historic preservation. The then-city council caved in to the emotion of the moment and voted to save it - for what they didn't say. Just do it. So it sat there for years. disintegrating after having been mandated to be saved by the City of Palo Alto. Same for the French Laundry. Now it is being integrated into a larger mixed use complex. When is the City Council going to get out of the minutiae like who gets a free cup of coffee and start solving this city's problems.

Well, Kate, the answer is never. Solving the city's problems would involve having to go up against the NIMBYists, so-called neighborhood leaders and "historical preservationists" and that will never happen. It is better to give the previously mentioned troika whatever they want and deal with important issues like preventing a city council member form getting a free doughnut. This continue for the time being, especially with Mayor Yoriko "I Love the Plao Alto Process" Kishimoto

Max, what do you consider "a city problem" and what do you think the City Council should do about that problem?