The wrecking ball will soon level the San Mateo County Times building, a 45,000-square-foot structure that housed the newspaper for 43 years. On nearby Highway 101, you may have seen the Times’ orange sign that also gave the time of day and temperature.

The San Mateo City Council on Monday approved the redevelopment of the 3½-acre Times site at 1080 S. Amphlett Blvd. The plan calls for 60 three-story townhouses, 14 two-story single-family houses and a 30,000-square-foot, three-story self-storage building, according to a story by Mike Rosenberg of the San Mateo County Times.

In June 2007, the Times moved to an office park at 477 Ninth Ave. in San Mateo because its staff of about a dozen employees is only a fraction of what it was in the paper’s heyday, when it had 300 employees, Rosenberg reported.