Draper Universityâs plan to convert its top three floors from dormitories to offices and add an elevator and staircase is facing pushback from the San Mateo Planning Commission. While most of the Planning Commission was OK with changing dorms to offices, it requested significant revisions to the elevator and staircase portion of the project over concerns the changes would alter the buildingâs historic nature.
Draper Universityâs building at 44 E. Third Ave. is part of the San Mateo Downtown Historic District and is considered a local historical building. It was built in 1926 and operated as the Benjamin Franklin Hotel until 2003. Changing the building architecture could permanently change its historical aspects, something the Planning Commission is against. Certain materials proposed for the elevator, like a glaze, could be harmful to the buildingâs Spanish Colonial Revival style, according to a city report. Most commissioners didnât see how the project coul