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redwood city neighborhood guide · property nerds® at compass
Redwood Shores, Redwood City Homes for sale, recent sales and a Property Nerd’s guide
Redwood City's bayfront district east of Highway 101: former salt ponds turned into lagoon-side streets from the late 1960s on, ringed by levees and the Bay Trail, with Belmont-Redwood Shores schools.
Redwood Shores by the numbers
redwood shores by the numbers · live from the mls
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Calculated in your browser from MLS data for Redwood Shores (approximate outline traced from the boundary streets). Sales are single-family homes, townhomes and condos.
homes in redwood shores · live from the mls
Homes for sale, for rent and recently sold in Redwood Shores
Every active listing, rental and closed sale in Redwood Shores 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 (Redwood Shores (approximate outline traced from the boundary streets)); it may not match every local definition.
the story
How Redwood Shores came to be
Redwood Shores is made land. It was bay marsh, and then it was salt ponds: the Redwood City Public Library's local-history summary says the Leslie Salt Company acquired the peninsula in 1928, after an earlier harbor project there was abandoned, and the library's photo archive traces Leslie from two small Redwood City salt plants bought in 1907 to thousands of acres of evaporation ponds around San Mateo County. Salt came off this ground for about three decades.
In 1959, after San Carlos and Belmont said no, Redwood City accepted Leslie's proposal to annex the land. Leslie Properties' 1963 plan was modeled on Foster City next door and projected 20,700 housing units by 1980, and a 1964 improvement district sold bonds for the infrastructure, which included sewers, water lines and reinforced levees along Belmont and Steinberger sloughs. It went slower than planned. The FHA paused loan guarantees for more than a year over earthquake concerns, Leslie sold to Mobil Oil Estates in 1973, and the 1975 General Plan cut the build-out to about a third of the original target. By 1978 roughly 500 homes were finished; housing, parks and trails filled in through the 1980s and 1990s.
Marine World got there first. The animal park opened in July 1968 on reclaimed tidelands off what was then Marine World Parkway (now Marine Parkway) and left for Vallejo in the mid-1980s; Oracle's office towers now stand on the site. The other half of the old plan, a 'South Shores' build-out on Bair Island, died in a 1982 citizens' referendum, and Bair Island is now wetland in the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge, with more than 1,400 acres of Inner Bair Island being returned to tidal marsh.
streets and homes
The streets and the houses
Three parkways do the heavy lifting. Redwood Shores Parkway runs from US 101 at Holly Street out to Radio Road near the bay end, Marine Parkway comes in from Ralston Avenue past the Oracle campus, and Shearwater Parkway serves the north side; Bridge Parkway and Shell Parkway loop through the middle. Offices and hotels line Twin Dolphin Drive, Marine Parkway and the 101 frontage. Homes fill the interior, mostly on short circles, courts and lanes that dead-end at the lagoon.
The street names run in themes, and you can practically sail by them. Boat parts and rigging turn up all over (Spinnaker, Bowsprit, Tiller, Davit, Keel, Starboard, Capstan, Cringle), shorebirds and shore life show up elsewhere (Sandpiper, Egret, Avocet, Cormorant, Shorebird, Osprey), and the lagoon circles borrow Mediterranean and island names (Lido, Portofino, Riviera, Barcelona, Monaco, Martinique, St. Lucia).
Housing is a mix of detached houses and townhouse and condominium complexes, many backing onto the water, with apartment buildings closer to the parkways. Many tracts have their own homeowners association, several with a private pool, so an address here often comes with its own rules and budget. The last big piece, The Preserve off Shearwater Parkway, was planned in a 2007 environmental report as 144 to 158 townhomes on about 11 acres next to roughly 93 acres of restored wetland with new levees and public trails. The Redwood Shores Lagoon itself covers about 160 acres; the City of Redwood City is the lead agency for treating it for algae, and stretches of its rock-lined banks have needed repair.
streets in redwood shores
- Redwood Shores Parkway
- Marine Parkway
- Shearwater Parkway
- Bridge Parkway
- Shell Parkway
- Twin Dolphin Drive
- Radio Road
- Lakeshore Drive
- Shorebird Circle
- Saint Martin Drive
- Newport Circle
- Seahorse Lane
- Marlin Drive
- Marlin Court
- Neptune Drive
- Cringle Drive
- Teredo Drive
- Spar Drive
- Lido Circle
- Portofino Circle
- Riviera Circle
- Davit Lane
- Baltic Circle
- Egret Lane
- Avocet Drive
- Breakwater Drive
- Island Drive
- Bowsprit Drive
parks and places
Parks, shops and landmarks near Redwood Shores
- park
Marlin Park
A community park of about 11 acres (city parks data) at Neptune Drive and Cringle Drive on the lagoon, with tennis courts, a soccer field and a playground.
- park
Sandpiper Park and Community Center
About 7 acres at Redwood Shores Parkway and Egret Lane, with a soccer and baseball field, next to Sandpiper School and the city's Sandpiper Community Center at 797 Redwood Shores Parkway.
- park
Shorebird, Mariner and the small parks
Shorebird Park (about 3.7 acres, Marine Parkway at Island Drive) has tennis courts; Mariner Park (about 4 acres, Tiller Lane at Bridge Parkway) sits on the Bay Trail. The city also lists Shannon, Dolphin, Preserve, Portside, Starboard and Sandpiper Point parks here.
- landmark
Redwood Shores Branch Library
A Redwood City Public Library branch at 399 Marine Parkway on a curve of Belmont Slough, with interpretive exhibits on the bay (the State Coastal Conservancy helped fund them in 2008) and a short bridge to the Bay Trail.
- park
Bay Trail and Shore Dogs Park
The Bay Trail is paved along Belmont Slough and gravel on the Steinberger Slough levee toward San Carlos Airport, with observation platforms over the Redwood Shores Ecological Reserve at the tip. Shore Dogs Park, about an acre on Radio Road, has separate large- and small-dog areas.
- shopping
Redwood Shores Parkway shops
The grocery anchor is Nob Hill Foods at 270 Redwood Shores Parkway, near the 101 end of the parkway.
schools and commute
School districts and getting around
School districts
Redwood Shores is in the Belmont-Redwood Shores School District for TK-8 and the Sequoia Union High School District for high school. Two district schools are in the neighborhood: Redwood Shores Elementary at 225 Shearwater Parkway and Sandpiper School at 801 Redwood Shores Parkway. Census district maps put a small, non-residential piece at the southern tip near Airport Way in the San Carlos School District. Attendance boundaries change, so check the exact address with the districts before you count on a school.
Belmont-Redwood Shores guide · Sequoia Union guide · Silicon Valley school districts
Getting around
- US 101 has two doors into the Shores: Ralston Avenue/Marine Parkway and Holly Street/Redwood Shores Parkway, each about 1.1 miles from Marlin Park (straight-line).
- Caltrain: Belmont and San Carlos stations are each about 1.6 miles from Marlin Park (straight-line); Redwood City station is about 3.2 miles.
- SamTrans Route 260 runs between San Carlos Caltrain and Carlmont Village through the Shores; check SamTrans for current stops and times.
- The San Francisco Bay Trail wraps much of the shoreline: paved along Belmont Slough past the library, gravel on the Steinberger Slough levee to San Carlos Airport.
- Bair Island and Steinberger Slough separate the Shores from downtown Redwood City, so the trip downtown goes by way of 101.
nerd notes
Buying or selling in Redwood Shores: what we check
Buying here
- Flood zone: FEMA's current panels (06081C0186F and 0188F, effective April 5, 2019) map the land behind the levees as Zone X, 'area with reduced flood risk due to levee'; the lagoons are mapped A/AE. In April 2020 FEMA told the city the levees need work to stay accredited, and without it about 4,700 households could be required to carry flood insurance. Get a flood determination and an insurance quote for the exact address.
- Levee project: in February 2026 the City Council chose to connect the levee system and raise it about 3.5 feet along roughly 7 miles of shoreline. Design isn't expected to finish until 2030, with completion targeted for 2034. Ask the city how construction, trail closures or any future funding measure could touch your parcel.
- HOA layers: many tracts have their own association, often with a pool or common landscaping, and some homes answer to more than one association. Read the CC&Rs, budget, reserve study and minutes for each layer, and check current dues and any special assessments.
- Lagoon-front homes: the city is the lead agency for algae treatment in the 160-acre lagoon, and eroded riprap banks have needed repair. Ask who owns and maintains the bank, dock or bulkhead behind a lagoon-front lot, and what the HOA covers.
- Ground: the Shores is fill over former bay mud and salt ponds, and settlement and shaking come up in local reporting. Read the geologic and soils disclosures, look for settlement cracks and sloped floors, and get a foundation inspection.
Selling here
- Pull HOA documents early (CC&Rs, budget, reserve study, minutes, any special assessments), since buyers here often work through more than one association.
- Have your flood zone determination and any elevation certificate ready, and be clear about the levee and FEMA status so buyers can price insurance before they write.
- For lagoon-front homes, document the condition of the bank, dock or riprap and who maintains it.
- Listings here file under three MLS area names (Redwood Shores, Marlin and Ventana Del Mar); make sure yours is in the right one so 94065 buyers find it.
nerd noteCommissions are always negotiable, and we offer bundled services, so ask us what's included.
faq
Redwood Shores questions, answered
Is Redwood Shores part of Redwood City?
Yes. Redwood City annexed it in 1959. It shares the city's government and uses ZIP 94065, but Bair Island and Steinberger Slough separate it from the rest of the city, so it feels like its own place.
Do Redwood Shores homes need flood insurance?
FEMA's current map shows the land behind the levees as Zone X with reduced risk because of the levee, and lenders generally don't require a policy outside FEMA's high-risk zones. FEMA warned the city in 2020 that the map could change if the levees aren't upgraded, so get a quote and ask your lender for the exact address.
What is happening with the levees?
The city raised more than three miles of levee in 2010 to meet FEMA requirements. In February 2026 the council approved a plan to connect and raise the system about 3.5 feet along roughly 7 miles of shoreline, with design running to about 2030 and completion targeted for 2034.
Which school district serves Redwood Shores?
Belmont-Redwood Shores School District for TK-8 and Sequoia Union High School District for high school. Redwood Shores Elementary and Sandpiper School are both in the neighborhood. Boundaries change, so confirm the address with the districts.
Where was Marine World?
On the bayfront off Marine Parkway, which was called Marine World Parkway while the park was open. It opened in 1968 and moved to Vallejo in the mid-1980s; the Oracle campus now covers the site.
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