“Iconic suburban Flood Park has preserved all the best things about the post-war boom while integrating the amenities of present day.”

Flood Park (MLS #309) is a triangular plot of land that includes within its boundaries a compilation of timeless 1940s and 1950s developments. Also referred to by locals as Suburban Park, Lorelei Manor and Flood Triangle, this borough offers neat, modest homes with well-attended lawns lined up along tree-lined lanes. With its large collection of sub-$1 million homes, it also offers the single most ‘easy point of entry’ to would-be homeowners west of Highway 101.

This suburb has within its borders multiple sub-boroughs, including Newbridge Park (a tract by the same name exists in Belle Haven), Flood Triangle, Suburban Park, Bay Road Oaks, Oakhurst and Lorelei Manor. The neighborhood takes its various designations from the largest of the three.

Newbridge Park is the oldest area, with homes dating back to 1936, while Oakhurst claims the spots of both newest subdivision and the smallest, with 1974 marking its beginnings. All the remaining sub-boroughs date back to the 1940s and 1950s and offer modest 2 and 3 bedroom ranch homes built post-war for returning servicemen and their families. Although the “raze and rebuild” phenomenon doesn’t exist here as elsewhere, many of these houses have undergone expansion and remodeling in the decades since their birth.

Residents of Flood Park-Suburbia Park-Lorelei Manor enjoy proximity to key commute corridors, access to esteemed Menlo Park district schools and are within 2 miles of downtown. They also have easy access to the 23-acre Flood Park, neighborhood focal point and recreation resource.

Flood Park embodies the best that suburbia has to offer, with its charming traditional character intertwined with modern amenities, making it a top choice among those looking to live in Menlo Park.

Neighborhood Price Point

$850,000 – $1,800,000

Favorable Attributes
  • An ‘easy point of entry’ for first time homebuyers
  • Neat, modest homes set along tree-lined streets
  • Easily accessible Flood Park is a neighborhood focal point and recreational resource
  • Embodies the best of suburbia by combining charm and tradition along with modern amenities

History of Flood Park Area, Menlo Park

In the 1930s, farms and ranch land covered most of today’s Flood Park, although at the time, Newbridge Park was in its infancy. The area of the Suburban Park subdivision saw its first homes constructed in 1945 amidst its expansive pastoral farmland. Prior to its development in the 1970s, the youthful Oakhurst borough was a sheep ranch.

Legendary Bay Area homebuilder, David Bohannon, is rumored to have had a hand in the development of much of the Menlo Park area. It is known that Bohannon created a vast low-rise office complex at the north end of Flood Park. In the 1940s, the Bohannon Industrial Park hit its stride, growing rapidly and enticing large-scale commercial clients the likes of Johnson & Johnson and Raychem.