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The skyline recently underwent a drastic change beside Highway 101 in Menlo Park.

The steel frame for one of three office buildings that will make up a good chunk of the Menlo Gateway project started going up late last month and is now visible from at least a mile in any direction.

“We should have most of the steel fully erected in the next two to three weeks,” said David Bohannon, vice president of property owner Bohannon Development Corp., last week. “It will be 140 feet, roughly, in height when it’s completed.”

At the south end of the Independence Drive construction site, work has also gotten underway on the hotel. Bohannon said the project is running right on schedule.

Gateway, a 16-acre mixed-use development, will bring three office buildings, a four-star hotel, parking garages, fitness center, restaurant and an outdoor events center to the neighborhood. At roughly 1 million square feet of planned space, the project is larger than Menlo Business Park. Earlier this year, Mayor Rich Cline dubbed the project, which has been planned for more than a decade, the blueprint for the city’s downtown plan and said Gateway paved the way for the city “partnering” with Facebook.

The hotel, which is expected to open in late 2017, is not yet named but will be part of Marriott’s Autograph collection. It is estimated to cost $100 million and its 250 rooms, including 43 suites, will feature floor-to-ceiling windows and could average about $400 a night.

The hotel will feature landscaped courtyards and gardens, a zero-edge pool and spa, cabanas and fire pits, and a 20,000-square-foot indoor-outdoor meeting and event space that will include a 6,000-square-foot ballroom, executive boardroom with terrace and a 3,000-square-foot event lawn. It is projected to bring the city about $1.2 million in annual room taxes.

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