Plans to redesign Palo Alto’s beloved but run-down Cubberley Community Center have restarted after the initial unsuccessful attempt six years ago. According to the City, the project will include “safe, modern and accessible spaces for childcare, classes and youth and adult recreation.” 

A recent agreement between the City and the Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD), the current leaseholders of the Community Center’s site at 4000 Middlefield Road, have made community members hopeful that the new attempt will be more successful than its predecessor.

The City and the Palo Alto Unified School District signed the “Cubberley Futures Compact” in 2016 to redesign the Community Center, which has been in use in its current form since 1989. Three years later, the project’s creative consultant, Concordia, created a Cubberley Master Plan outlining the community’s ambitions for the site. 

The initial proposal fell through due to a last-minute decision to add housing, which drew criticism from the community. The school district also expressed a reluctance to demolish certain parts of the Community Center, but Cubberley’s fate remained a key electoral issue for the school district.

Those campaign promises began to be realized in 2024. Unlike the previous Cubberley refurbishment effort, which involved collaboration between both representatives of the City and PAUSD, the new agreement signed Oct. 7 would have PAUSD sell seven acres of the site to the City.

“The unique difference with today’s reimagined effort is that there is alignment on a successful path forward,” said the Cubberley project lead Kristen O’Kane.

In November 2026, Palo Altans will vote to approve or reject a General Obligation bond to fund this acquisition and the subsequent development.

Although there are differences in planning efforts, some components remain the same. Concordia, the consultants who worked on the previous Master Plan, have once again been tasked with collecting input from the community and creating a schema. According to O’Kane, Concordia’s expertise would allow them to “step right in and get started,” given the project’s ambitious timeline. 

“They [Concordia] have a keen understanding of the Cubberley facility, neighborhood, and community and are well-positioned to build upon their previous plan,” O’Kane said.

Last month, the consulting agency ran a visioning activity for the City Council where members outlined their hopes and expectations for the final Community Center. The session was fruitful, with the council members collectively visioning Cubberley as “a vibrant and beloved destination with activities, amenities and offerings that promote learning, joy and wellbeing, where all cultures and generations belong.” 

During the discussion, council members highlighted key characteristics they wanted the Community Center to have, such as synergy and explorability. Council member Pat Burt emphasized the importance of making the place inclusive of all backgrounds. 

“In a community like ours, with so many different immigrant groups, we need to be continually educating each other culturally,” he said.

Council member Julie Lythcott-Haims ’89 also brought up Oldenburg’s concept of the “third place” – informal spaces not associated with work or the home, where members of the community could come together and engage with one another. “We want it to be a lot of things to a lot of different people,” she said.

On March 19, Concordia hosted a meeting during which community members shared their ideas and concerns about the proposed changes. During the session, participants expressed a desire to have more citizen input during the process and ensure existing tenants can still afford to rent spaces. They also noted the need to balance ambition with realism and greater transparency in the process.

According to O’Kane, this focus on voter’s desires forms a crucial part of the planning process, making her optimistic about the new proposal’s success.

 “With community input as the foundation of our work, we believe this will support relevant, inclusive and responsive spaces,” she said.