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los altos neighborhood guide · property nerds® at compass
El Camino Real Corridor and Sherwood Gateway Homes for sale, recent sales and a Property Nerd’s guide
Los Altos's 1.3-mile edge along El Camino Real, plus the Sherwood Gateway blocks around San Antonio Road: the part of the city where most new condos, apartments and mixed-use buildings are going up.
El Camino & Sherwood Gateway by the numbers
el camino & sherwood gateway by the numbers · live from the mls
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Calculated in your browser from MLS data for El Camino Real frontage from Adobe Creek to the Mountain View line, plus the Sherwood Gateway blocks (approximate). Sales are single-family homes, townhomes and condos.
homes in el camino & sherwood gateway · live from the mls
Homes for sale, for rent and recently sold in El Camino & Sherwood Gateway
Every active listing, rental and closed sale in the El Camino Real corridor and Sherwood Gateway from the MLS, updated automatically, with a map of the neighborhood outline.
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Listings come from MLSListings and other MLSs through IDX and show their listing brokerage; confirm details with the listing agent. The map outline is the neighborhood boundary used by our listing search (El Camino Real frontage from Adobe Creek to the Mountain View line, plus the Sherwood Gateway blocks (approximate)); it may not match every local definition.
the story
How El Camino & Sherwood Gateway came to be
El Camino Real here is State Route 82, and the city line runs down the middle of it. Los Altos holds the southwest side for about 1.3 miles, from Adobe Creek at the Palo Alto line to just past Distel Circle at the Mountain View line, so the view from your balcony may be in Mountain View, including the Avalon Towers across the street. For decades this was the city's commercial edge: hotels, offices, gas stations and a Whole Foods Market that opened in 2006 at Showers Drive on former office land.
The Sherwood Gateway is the cluster of blocks southwest of El Camino around San Antonio Road and Sherwood Avenue, which the Town Crier described in 1998 as a mix of restaurants, small businesses, apartments and cottages. Chef Chu's has been at 1067 North San Antonio Road since 1970. In 1998 a citizen task force drafted a plan to spruce up the area, and the density fight was immediate: the General Plan allowed 38 units per acre on about three acres, and the task force wanted seven. The council adopted the Sherwood Gateway Specific Plan in 1999 and amended it in 2008. It focuses on urban design, circulation and streetscape; the underlying zoning still sets what can be built.
That zoning has changed fast. To meet its 2023-2031 Housing Element, the city removed the density cap in the Commercial Thoroughfare (CT) district along El Camino in late 2023 and set heights at 55 feet and five stories for residential buildings and 60 feet for mixed use. The Commercial Neighborhood district that covers much of the Sherwood area now allows mixed-use buildings up to 45 feet and four stories, and a 2025 ordinance rezoned more parcels along San Antonio Road and El Camino Real to CT. Projects that use the State Density Bonus Law can go further: one approved condo building is eight stories.
streets and homes
The streets and the houses
On the Los Altos side, the streets meeting El Camino from west to east are Los Altos Avenue, North San Antonio Road, Sherwood Avenue, Jordan Avenue and Distel Drive. The corridor is thin, and in many places the commercial lots back right up to single-family lots. Behind Whole Foods sits Los Altos Square, a gated townhouse community built in 1964, and in the Sherwood area small streets such as Acacia Avenue, Marcelli Circle and Chester Circle mix homes with commercial lots. At San Antonio Road, the Village Court shopping center at 4546 El Camino Real is on the city's list to be rezoned for housing.
The new buildings tell you where things are heading. The Altan at 4880 El Camino Real has 21 single-level condos in a five-story building with a roof deck and club room. At 4350 El Camino Real, a five-story, 47-condo building with two levels of underground parking was approved in 2022 to replace a gas station. At the southeast corner of Jordan Avenue, 4898 El Camino Real was approved in late 2025 for 85 condos in an eight-story, 109-foot building with an automated underground garage. Near the Mountain View line, 5150 El Camino Real is becoming 196 rental homes: 172 apartments in two five-story buildings facing El Camino and 24 townhomes at the back, kept to 30 feet and set back at least 40 feet from the property line. Around the corner, 330 Distel Circle is a 90-unit all-affordable apartment building that broke ground in 2025.
Floor plans in the new buildings are mostly one- to three-bedroom flats, with parking below grade, sometimes in mechanical or automated systems. Townhomes appear at the rear of larger sites, where the zoning steps buildings down toward neighboring houses: facades facing single-family lots are limited in width, and upper-floor balconies and roof decks can't face them.
streets in el camino & sherwood gateway
- El Camino Real
- North San Antonio Road
- Sherwood Avenue
- Acacia Avenue
- Loucks Avenue
- Marcelli Circle
- Chester Circle
- Los Altos Avenue
- Jordan Avenue
- Distel Drive
- Distel Circle
- Los Altos Square
parks and places
Parks, shops and landmarks near El Camino & Sherwood Gateway
- shopping
Whole Foods Market
At 4800 El Camino Real at Showers Drive, a 55,000-square-foot store that opened in 2006 on the site of former offices.
- shopping
Village Court
A shopping center at the southwest corner of El Camino Real and San Antonio Road (4546 El Camino Real), with restaurants and services; the Housing Element calls for rezoning its larger parcel for housing.
- landmark
Chef Chu's
At 1067 North San Antonio Road since 1970, it started as a take-out spot in a former laundromat and grew to fill its building, second floor included.
- transit
San Antonio Caltrain station
At 190 Showers Drive in Mountain View, about 0.55 mile from El Camino and San Antonio Road in a straight line, with 199 shared parking spaces, bike racks and e-lockers.
- park
Parks nearby
The closest Los Altos city park is Village Park at Edith Avenue and San Antonio Road, about 1.4 miles south. Mountain View's Rengstorff Park is roughly 0.9 mile east (straight-line map measurements).
schools and commute
School districts and getting around
School districts
On the Los Altos side of El Camino, addresses are generally in the Los Altos School District (TK-8) and the Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District, which assigns students to Los Altos High or Mountain View High by address. Egan Junior High (100 West Portola Avenue) sits a few blocks south of El Camino. Homes across the street are in Mountain View and can fall in different districts, and boundaries change, so check the exact address with LASD's school locator and MVLA's street search.
Los Altos School District guide · Mountain View-Los Altos high schools · Silicon Valley school districts
Getting around
- San Antonio Caltrain is about 0.55 mile from El Camino at San Antonio Road, 0.6 mile from Whole Foods at Showers Drive and 0.9 mile from 5150 El Camino Real (straight-line map measurements). Showers Drive leads straight to it.
- Mountain View's Caltrain and VTA light rail station is about 1.4 miles from the east end of the corridor and about 2.1 miles from San Antonio Road (straight line).
- VTA Route 22 runs on El Camino Real with stops at Los Altos Avenue and San Antonio Road, and Rapid 522 stops at Showers Drive. VTA Route 40 runs south on San Antonio Road to downtown Los Altos and Foothill College.
- US 101 is about 2 miles north via San Antonio Road through Mountain View (approximate). Downtown Los Altos and Foothill Expressway are about 1.4 miles south on San Antonio Road.
- El Camino Real is State Route 82, the main surface road up and down the Peninsula, so expect bus and car traffic all day.
nerd notes
Buying or selling in El Camino & Sherwood Gateway: what we check
Buying here
- Do full HOA homework: budget, reserve study, special assessments, master insurance, and rules on rentals, pets and EV charging. In a brand-new building, ask whether the developer still controls the HOA and how the first-year dues were set.
- In mixed-use buildings, find out which commercial uses the zoning allows below you, plus hours, deliveries, venting and how shared costs are split.
- If the garage is mechanical or automated (4898 El Camino Real plans an automated underground garage), ask about maintenance contracts, outage plans and vehicle size limits.
- El Camino Real is State Route 82. Visit at rush hour, check which way the bedrooms face, and ask for the window and wall sound ratings.
- Since 2023 the CT district has no density cap, and density bonus projects can go well above the base height. Look up applications on neighboring parcels before you pay for a view or light. Some units in new buildings are deed-restricted affordable units with their own resale rules; know which kind you are buying.
Selling here
- Order the HOA resale packet early; corridor buyers compare dues, reserves and rules across several buildings.
- You're competing with new construction. Spell out what your unit offers that new ones may not: size, parking count, storage, outdoor space and an established HOA.
- Put measured distances to San Antonio Caltrain, the VTA stops and Whole Foods in the listing.
- Disclose known nearby construction, such as 5150 El Camino Real and 4898 El Camino Real, with whatever schedule information is public.
nerd noteCommissions are always negotiable, and we offer bundled services, so ask us what's included.
faq
El Camino & Sherwood Gateway questions, answered
What is the Sherwood Gateway?
A specific plan area around San Antonio Road and Sherwood Avenue, just southwest of El Camino Real, adopted in 1999 and amended in 2008. The plan covers design, circulation and streetscape; the underlying zoning decides what can be built.
What can be built on El Camino in Los Altos?
In the CT district, residential and mixed-use buildings with no density cap since late 2023, up to 55 feet and five stories for residential and 60 feet for mixed use. Projects using the State Density Bonus Law can go higher; an eight-story condo building was approved at 4898 El Camino Real.
Is the other side of El Camino in Los Altos?
No. The city line runs down the middle of El Camino Real, so the northeast side is Mountain View. Mailing addresses, schools and permits can differ across the street.
Are the new buildings condos or rentals?
Both. The Altan, 4350 El Camino Real and 4898 El Camino Real are condo projects; 5150 El Camino Real is rentals; 330 Distel Circle is all-affordable rental apartments.
How close is Caltrain?
San Antonio station is about half a mile from El Camino and San Antonio Road in a straight line, reached via Showers Drive.
next door
More Los Altos neighborhood guides
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