For decades, Burlingame lacked a signature open space. With the enhancement of Burlingame Avenue, city leaders kicked off a broader strategy to make downtown more pedestrian-friendly, anchored in the transformation of a one-acre parking lot between Lorton Avenue and Park Road into an outdoor living room—opening in 2026 as Burlingame Town Square.

The project was delivered through a partnership between the City and the developer of 220 Park, an adjacent six-story office building with ground-level retail and adaptive reuse of a 1941 Art Deco post office. The square extends into this development with seating terraces, an elevated dining area, and a restaurant. Organized into two distinct zones, the site is overlaid with a grid of deciduous trees, seating clusters, and large custom wood slat benches along the sunny northwest edge, subtly faceted to echo the character of the post office’s lobby. The Park Road half of the square includes flexible space and a small performance area to host markets and festivals, while the Lorton Avenue half features communal tables and outdoor games. Flanking curbs are designated for drop-off, supporting the Square as a natural meeting and socializing spot downtown configured with a small performance area and flexible space purpose-built for a weekly farmers market, easily reconfigured for events of varying sizes.

Midway through the square, a water feature clad with angled panels of cast dichroic glass shifts from icy white to aqua, gold, and royal blue depending on sun angle and viewing position, screening a public restroom. Throughout, the design features a warm modern design vocabulary with a palette of oranges, reds, and rusts recalling the brick façades and outdoor dining along Burlingame Avenue. After dark, theater-grade projectors wash the Square’s main walk with a shimmering light artwork evoking Burlingame Creek, now culverted below ground.

Over time, surrounding buildings will open up to the square, completing the square’s function as a defining civic gathering space and connector for downtown.