Sprawling Midpeninsula apartment campuses could soon feel a bit more like small neighborhoods, as a wave of backyard-style homes begins to fill in their leftover space.
A new deal between Prometheus Real Estate Group and prefab builder Samara will bring dozens of small, standalone units to several large, Prometheus-managed properties on the Peninsula. Instead of tearing down existing buildings, the plan slots factory-made homes into underused corners of the sites. Planners and property owners see it as a way to add housing quickly while keeping the overall look and feel of the complexes largely intact.
Samara, based in Redwood City, is slated to deliver more than 50 modular units to five Prometheus properties in the Bay Area, according to industry reporting. HousingWire reported that the deal leans on recent state rule changes that make it easier for multifamily landlords to tuck detached accessory dwelling units, or ADUs, onto their parcels. Developers say these backyard-scale homes let owners turn lawns, side yards and overlooked corners into income-producing rental units, without the disruption of large-scale demolition.
SB 1211 cleared the way for multiunit ADUs
Last year’s ADU law changes, including SB 1211, widened how many detached ADUs can be placed on multifamily lots and stripped away some local hurdles to getting them approved. The bill outlines a ministerial approval path and relaxes replacement parking rules for ADU conversions on multifamily parcels, according to the text of SB 1211.
Those legal tweaks landed on top of a much bigger statewide shift. California has seen a sharp rise in ADU permitting, with approvals climbing from the low thousands in 2016 to more than 20,000 by 2022, based on California HCD data. The Boston Globe has outlined that trend and the broader housing policy context behind it.
What Samara is offering landlords
Samara’s catalog runs from studios to two-bedroom models, with the larger units clocking in at roughly 700 to 800 square feet. The homes are built off site, shipped in and set on prepared foundations with utility hookups already planned out. The company, which spun out of Airbnb in 2022, pitches a one-stop setup: design, permitting, manufacturing and installation under a single contract, with an eye toward faster timelines and less on-site disruption.
According to the company’s own materials and earlier industry coverage, that vertically integrated approach, plus the ability to arrange financing, is central to Samara’s pitch to multifamily owners. Samara and Fortune have profiled the product line and the team behind it.
A cautionary note from prefab’s recent past
Even with the current ADU boom, veterans of the construction world have not forgotten some painful lessons from recent prefab history. One of the loudest examples is Katerra, which expanded rapidly with billions in backing before filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Bloomberg and other outlets chronicled that collapse and the financing fallout that hit parts of the factory-built sector afterward.
That track record has left both landlords and city officials asking pointed questions about construction schedules, long-term maintenance obligations and who covers any required utility upgrades before they greenlight multifamily ADU plans.
What to watch next on the Peninsula
Local reporting indicates that construction of the Prometheus and Samara units is expected to start in 2026 at some Peninsula properties, including sites in San Mateo, Foster City and Mountain View. As the San Mateo Daily Journal noted, owners and planners will be watching permitting timelines and needed infrastructure upgrades closely, since each complex has different demands for utility connections and circulation.
Executives at Samara and Prometheus have argued that the small standalone homes will be attractive to renters, with industry coverage estimating that the units could command a premium over nearby apartments. They also say that financing options can help landlords turn open patches of land into revenue-generating homes, according to HousingWire and the company’s own Samara materials.
