Caltrain official lived in secret apartment built illegally inside train station

https://sfstandard.com/2025/06/12/caltrain-employee-secret-apartment-burlingame-station-photos/

62•panic•7mo ago

Comments

zxexz•7mo ago

This would have been excellent had he not misappropriated public funds, IMO.

Also, maybe it’s just perspective, but those photos don’t depict what I would call a “snug” apartment? I mean, there are more windows than most places I’ve lived! Looks like a pretty substantial amount of space.

kelseyfrog•7mo ago

I can't imagine not being able to have people over. Having to live in solitude is terrible.

PaulRobinson•7mo ago

You can go out with friends, you don't need to always have them over - in fact, shared hobbies is a great way to meet new people.

And, if you should develop a deeper connection with somebody and you trust them, you can let them know what's going on.

lupusreal•7mo ago

He had four chairs at his table. Maybe three were decoration but that's a space-expensive way to decorate a small apartment that is otherwise rather devoid of decorations. Also, he was apparently discovered by some other employees two years before an anonymous tip turned him in. I have a feeling more people knew and the only reason the scheme crashes is because he crashed out with somebody.

charcircuit•7mo ago

Nowadays you can talk to everyone via the internet.

gavinray•7mo ago

Have you never lived in a tiny studio/1 bed apartment?

My wife and I have lived in a space so small we physically can't host people for the last 10 years and it's never bothered us.

You just go out and meet people somewhere else.

datavirtue•7mo ago

Yeah, the no room for visitors a feature. Saved me tons of stress.

kelseyfrog•7mo ago

I appreciate that it hasn't been an issue for you, but that doesn't really change how isolating it feels for me. I'm not saying everyone needs to host people, just that I do. My social wellbeing depends on it in a way going out doesn't quite replace.

dbspin•7mo ago

One of the things I really couldn't stand about living in Germany. The Ruhezeit (quiet hours) are one thing, but literally every building I lived in in Berlin had whacko neighbours that would immediately complain and threaten to call the police if I had two or three friends over, early evening any day of the week. Just talking, without music playing etc. I don't know how people can live that way long term. Or more significantly why. On the other end of the scale it's perfectly normal for multiple competing trash companies to begin collecting bottles and bins daily from a given housing block - starting as early as seven AM. So you get both no rest and no relaxation.

fmobus•7mo ago

7AM is already quite late for Germans.

pchangr•7mo ago

LMAO!!!! Have you ever been in a German street at 7am?!!!! Not even breakfast places are open at that time

em-bee•7mo ago

germans don't go out for breakfast. even tourists are expected to have breakfast in the hotel. the only places open in the morning are bakeries where you get bread and other things to take home. trainstations sometimes have food for people on the go.

pchangr•7mo ago

Sure, and what I meant was .. calling 7am “late” is a bit of an overstatement.. people start working at 8/9 am. Where I come, by 6am you’re already in your car on your way to work/school. And THERE.. 7am is late. But Germany… no.

fmobus•7mo ago

My neighbors are already hustling at 6:30, consistently. By 7:15am there's already a steady stream of students going to a nearby school three blocks from my place.

I once had to leave super early in winter and saw several office buildings with lights on at 6:45 with people working inside (no, not janitorial staff).

Germans get started quite early compared to every country I've ever worked/lived.

pchangr•7mo ago

Look, what I can tell you is this: …. 7am is the starting time of school classes in Guatemala City. It’s 7am so it doesn’t clashes with office hours.. which start at 8am.. most of the time. But if you’re lucky you can choose to start at 7am. So you can avoid a bit of the traffic.

The only parts of the world were I have lived were people mostly work 9-to-5 are what you would call “the developed world”. And that includes Germany.

I personally don’t consider Germany an early rising country and it took me quite some time to adjust myself to not having “normal” stores open before like 10. And then.. they are all closed by 6pm.. like.. cool that the developed world has work regulations but it’s hardly the norm.

jaoane•7mo ago

Those quiet hours sound like heaven. Signed: person living in Spain.

bredren•7mo ago

It seems like an estimated market value of such a dwelling is not included in the "cost" to taxpayers. How much would such a unit be worth?

kristopolous•7mo ago

reminds me of an office i put together about 10 years ago. On the 3rd floor we put in a full bedroom, shower, closet ... we didn't actually use it much - turns out people just wanted to go home. Making the office more comfortable doesn't change that.

pinkmuffinere•7mo ago

That’s super surprising to me. I have a of a hectic energy, and I love chaos, so maybe it’s just differences in personality, but I already sleep in the office on occasion. Having a bedroom and shower would make it very nice

em-bee•7mo ago

the problem is that it is not your personal space. you may be alone many times but you don't have guaranteed privacy. and it's not personalized. it's like staying in a hotel, without the service and less privacy.

to wind off after work i want my own space, not just some place where i can sleep.

moralestapia•7mo ago

The guy was making 300k+ a year, wow.

bestouff•7mo ago

This guy should definitely be punished. But when you see the level of money embezzlement top officials can get away with, whereas this guys gets prison time, you can only feel a bit sad.

TheOtherHobbes•7mo ago

I'm wondering if he has a bigger house elsewhere he was renting out.

Even if they get him to pay back the $42k, that's still only around $14k of rent a year.

And he's not going to be paying rent while he's in jail.

nohat00•7mo ago

They should AirBnB these units out. this guy creates a whole new revenue stream for Caltrain. This story is pretty crazy, this guy built not one but two secret livable apartments with bathrooms and kitchens inside daily, actively used train stations?

Animats•7mo ago

Many of the CALTRAIN stations have a historic Southern Pacific station building that's not used much. They're from the days of ticket windows and luggage service. Palo Alto has a cafe in theirs, and used to have a bike shop. San Carlos has a cafe. But Burlingame wasn't in use.

If he'd built the thing with his own money, it wouldn't be so bad. But he stole the money for the job.

Stratoscope•7mo ago

https://archive.is/rEfSl

raymondgh•7mo ago

Finally, pictures of the inside! That’s what I really wanted to see when I heard about this last year

https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/03/28/ex-caltrain-employee-...

fsckboy•7mo ago

photos https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/06/12/secret-caltrain-apart...

Aurornis•7mo ago

> Navarro earned $235,000 in 2021, plus $95,000 in other pay and benefits,

Over $300K compensation and zero rent. Guy probably thought he was accelerating his retirement funds.

I wonder what he planned to do with the space when he finally retired. Spend more funds to demolish the evidence?

sokoloff•7mo ago

Create a new project in a future year budget to “build” it and pocket that new money (maybe steering the projects to friendly subs) as well?

readthenotes1•7mo ago

Only $42k? They should get that guy to tell California how to build for the homeless

WesolyKubeczek•7mo ago

“First, you must remember to reuse the existing infrastructure as much as possible, it brings the cost of connecting the utilities way down. Disused train stations are a great example; you can also try town halls and museums; and you may experiment with unused mall sections, but from my experience, it's better to use a public space than a private one.”

“Why?”

“The mall owners can get really twitchy if they can't profit off those square feet.”

“I see. So, public underused spaces with intact utilities, you say?”

“That's right. Oh, and remember to keep all your invoices under $3,000.”

“Why that?”

“Funny you should ask, I clearly remember it being really important back in my time, but now that I think more of it, I guess it's just a habit I picked up.”

bdcravens•7mo ago

Given the nature of what he was building, I assume he bypassed various permits, inspections, code, etc.

absurdo•7mo ago

Suppose he built to code, without having permits or inspections. What do you estimate the cost to be?

hedora•7mo ago

The code probably says this room can't be in that building, so you'd probably need to level the entire train station building and start over. $10M?

Something like that, in an existing backyard shed with pre-run plumbing + electricty with no permits? That'd cost roughly what he paid. I didn't see any obvious code violations in the picture, except probably ADA stuff due to it being too small for wheelchairs.

sour-taste•7mo ago

If you were wondering like me how this dude was making so much working for a public railroad, this was (maybe) his job: (1). Chief Engineering and Project Delivery, making $209,903.00 - $314,855.00. I'm just basing this on the fact that it's an open position in the right salary range.

(1) https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/smctd/caltrain/jobs/4...

hoseyor•7mo ago

From the article: “ Navarro earned $235,000 in 2021, plus $95,000 in other pay and benefits…”

Simon_O_Rourke•7mo ago

That's good money, and better yet if you don't need to blow it on rent.

ww520•7mo ago

Salary history of public employees.

https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/search/?q=Joseph+...

betimsl•7mo ago

Awesome.

ZoomZoomZoom•7mo ago

Am I lacking some common knowledge here? I expected some plans and explanations of the circumstances that lead to this specific piece of property staying hidden for so long. Was it an abandoned wing? Where's the entry? Was the door hidden or disguised in some way? TFA has only photos of the inside and lots of $ numbers. Pretty disappointing.

Aurornis•7mo ago

It looks like some extra office space rooms.

These people managed entire buildings. They knew how to find some extra office space that wasn’t currently in use.

datavirtue•7mo ago

"Stealing" is a big stretch here. He should have lawyered this into oblivion. Nonetheless, the benefit is non-returnable and the prison sentence is basically nil so he made out.

Aurornis•7mo ago

If you misappropriate work funds or resources for your own personal gain, that’s stealing.

He made good money (over $300K) and wasn’t paying rent for years. I’m sure he lawyered up.

But embezzlement like this is an open and shut case.

mo_s•7mo ago

Now this is what I call mixed use development!

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Caltrain official lived in secret apartment built illegally inside train station

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