Menlo Park residents are being invited by Stanford to two open houses to offer suggestions on a new public plaza on El Camino Real.

The plaza – called Middle Plaza – will be part of the 500 El Camino Real project, a larger development at the site of several former car dealerships. The full project’s details and design are still under development and have not yet been announced.

The 500 El Camino Real project, first proposed in 2012, was put on hold as the city of Menlo Park reconsidered its Specific Plan to guide downtown and El Camino Real redevelopment. The 500 El Camino Real site runs between El Camino Real and the railway from the Stanford Park Hotel to the Big 5 store.

The open houses, scheduled for May 28 and 30 at the Encinal Elementary School on Encinal Avenue, are designed to engage the Menlo Park community on the best uses and designs for the public plaza. The meetings will be held in the small multi-purpose room at the school at 195 Encinal Ave.

“We are excited to restart the community process of designing Middle Plaza at 500 El Camino,” said Steve Elliott, Stanford’s managing director for development, land, buildings and real estate. “We have learned a lot from the community about how we should best develop the former car dealerships at the city’s gateway, and we are making progress incorporating that feedback.”

In comparison to the previous plan, the new Middle Plaza location has been shifted and its size dramatically increased. This shift will make the public plaza a cornerstone component of the overall project.

“Middle Plaza is central to the success of the project and is being significantly expanded to be a better asset to the community,” Elliott said.

“Middle Plaza can serve as a gathering place and the link to the city’s planned underground crossing of the railway, creating a pedestrian and bicycle connection between east and west Menlo Park at Middle Avenue,” Elliott said. “Due to its importance in creating a vibrant and exciting amenity for the entire Menlo Park community, we are starting with a focused dialogue about Middle Plaza as it will influence everything that is to come.”

Stanford hopes to propose new plans shortly that will reduce the amount of office space originally included in the redevelopment and increase the proposed number of residential units. The designs are considered more consistent with the village character that Menlo Park residents seek.

The meetings, free and open to the public, will concentrate on Middle Plaza, but will be followed by other public meetings focusing on the entire project’s design and character.

The Thursday, May 28, community meeting will be held from 6 to 8 p.m., and the Saturday, May 30, community meeting will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Visit the website for more information.