In the Bay Area, where building a single new affordable housing unit can easily cost north of $900,000, how did former Caltrain officials end up building two secret apartments at two peninsula train stations for the meager $50,000?
Not legally, San Mateo prosecutors say.
Former Caltrain deputy director Joseph Navarro and contractor Seth Andrew Worden face criminal charges for misusing public funds to build residences at the Burlingame and Millbrae stations. Employees discovered Worden’s Millbrae apartment in 2020, but did not learn of Navarro’s secret location inside the Burlingame station until after an anonymous tip in 2022. Both were fired .
Their alleged criminal activity — or ingenuity as some see it — has drawn admiration online from a few people, particularly housing advocates who say so-called “transport-oriented development in common” like this is exactly what the Bay needs more of.
“If building more housing next to public transportation isn’t necessary, then I don’t know what is,” wrote a user of the social networking site X, formerly known as Twitter.
This is multi-modal, mixed-use housing that is illegal to build in the United States.
– Jonowee (@jonowee) March 29, 2024
Many were impressed that Worden and Navarro — who spent $8,000 on the Millbrae unit and $42,000 on the Burlingame unit, respectively — were able to convert office space into housing at such low costs.
“Hire this man to build housing,” wrote Mark Dinan, a recruiter based in East Palo Alto. “$42,000 for an apartment!”
Hire this man to build affordable housing! $42,000 for an apartment!
–Marc Dinan (@markdinan) March 29, 2024
If they can build an apartment in Burlingame for $42,000, put them in charge of the state.
-Tim Duncheon (@TDuncheon) March 29, 2024
For $42,000, Navarro allegedly installed a kitchenette, shower, plumbing and security cameras, prosecutors said. The two men are accused of trying to go under the radar by ensuring that none of the bills exceeded $3,000, which would have triggered additional authorization from Caltrain and TransAmerica Services Inc., the company that employed Worden.
Building new housing is notoriously expensive in California: Beyond high construction costs, impact fees and the permitting process can cost thousands of dollars, fees that Worden and Navarro would not have paid.
The crime also highlighted the plight of Bay Area super-suburbanites: District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe told the San Francisco Standard that the apartments were an “amenity” for the two former employees.
“They thought the Bay Area (commuting) was really lousy,” Wagstaffe said.
Some on social media had to admit: Living in a historic train station like Burlingame, built in 1894 and designated a California Landmark, sounded appealing.
This is a pretty serious situation and crime, but I quietly want one of these houses.
It would be so cool to live in a Caltrain station. https://t.co/uvWuvz63ae
– Monica Mallon (@monicallon) March 29, 2024
California lawmakers have encouraged more “transit-oriented development” in recent years with the goal of creating mixed-use, walkable communities that provide easier access to jobs and services. In the last decade alone, hundreds of homes have sprung up along the Caltrain line, transforming the downtowns of cities across the Peninsula and South Bay. Others are on the way.
Marc Joffe, a policy analyst at the Cato Institute, said it might be worth considering converting some Caltrain stations — located on valuable real estate in the middle of the city — into more housing. Legally, of course.
With fewer people using Caltrain, it might be a good idea to convert parts of the station buildings into housing. But that’s not the right way to do it! https://t.co/o6dXuWFxHP
– Marc Joffe (@joffemd) March 28, 2024
Worden, a 61-year-old resident of Oceanside in San Diego County, was arraigned Wednesday and released on his own recognizance, according to court records. Navarro, 66, formerly of the Bay Area and currently living in Newtown, Pennsylvania, is scheduled to be arraigned on April 29.
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