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Looking at 3 Visions For Busy Retail Corner
Three developers to present plans to buy 1500 Mount Diablo Blvd. from the city of Walnut Creek.
This lot at Mount Diablo Boulevard and Main Street is earmarked for development.
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The City Council has scheduled a special meeting for 5:30 p.m. Thursday to hear from three potential developers of a prime downtown parcel the city is selling.
The location at 1500 Mount Diablo Blvd. will get even busier soon. It is kitty corner to the new Neiman Marcus store opening in March.
The public part of the meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Thursday in the third floor conference room at City Hall, 1666 N. Main St. In that part, three potential buyers will have an opportunity to share their vision for development of the site. At an estimated time of 7:30 p.m., the council expects to go into closed session to confer on negotiations. The city will be led by its negotiator, Assistant City Manager Lorie Tinfow.
The following details from developers are from a chart prepared by city staff for the meeting.
- B. H. Development is planning a retail outlet on the ground level, accompanied by a three-level restaurant. Their plans are to complete the project 17 months from city acceptance. They are looking for the seller to be responsible if any remediation is needed.
- Davidson & Licht has a plan for a multilevel jewelry store with valet parking, topped by a rooftop terrace venue for weddings and charity events. "The goal is to create a jewelry destination for all of Northern California." Davidson & Licht also owns the 1329 Main St. building with The Watch Shoppe three doors down. They expect to complete the project in October 2013. They plan to purchase the lot as is.
- Patson Companies has plans for a glass and steel building. With another partnership, the buyer has the opportunity to make this parcel a starting point for a long-term development involving the adjacent Mark Morris Fire & Service Center, 1556 Mount Diablo Blvd. Patson was the developer of the Barnes and Noble building at Olympic and Main. It expects to complete 1500 Mount Diablo Blvd. in September 2013. The buyer plans to reimburse the city for the cost of a Phase II remediation report; any remediation needed would be the responsibility of the seller, the city.
The talk of remediation revolves around the possibility that excavation might unearth underground pollution. The site was a Standard Oil station decades ago. The city has owned the land since 1976. It the late 1990s, it was a temporary location for the Bank of America.
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In This article
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BH Development
1501 Mt Diablo Blvd, Walnut Creek, CA -
Davidson & Licht Jewelry Co.
1258 Broadway Plz, Walnut Creek, CA
obiwan
11:49 pm on Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Brian Hirahawa's proposal (B.H. Development) for a three-story restaurant envisions a "bar/lounge" on the ground floor. It seems to me that the very LAST thing we need in this City is another "bar/lounge".
Brian Hirahara
9:05 am on Thursday, February 9, 2012
The "bar/lounge" would be associated with the larger restaurant and would be more akin to the bar / dining area at the front of Va de Vi, serving food as well. It would not be a late-night bar scene type of place at all.
obiwan
12:18 pm on Thursday, February 9, 2012
Thank you for clarifying that Brian. And thank you for participating on the site.
WC-Independent
12:32 pm on Thursday, February 9, 2012
I'd welcome another bar/lounge at the site. Options similar to 'va da vi' are limited downtown. I look forward to additional options being added.
obiwan, I agree, thanks to all the risk takers/Entrepreneurs/visionaries who really make the developments with the guidance of public/city council enhance the downtown. Maybe we can have a toast at one of the new lounges sometime!
Pete Johnson
12:36 pm on Thursday, February 9, 2012
I still think it should have been a park with benches where downtown shoppers and diners could sit and see Mt Diablo. That dream died but you can see Neiman Marcus from there. Is there any public information on what Patson has in mind along Mt. Diablo Blvd? and with whom?
obiwan
5:18 pm on Thursday, February 9, 2012
The tire store is going to be an Anthropologie.
http://www.beyondthecreek.com/coming-soon-anthropologie/
michael frederick
12:40 am on Friday, February 10, 2012
Per Obiwan, it's great to have Brian H. contribute.
I went to the meeting tonight. All three of the finalists made presentations and all three were very impressive -- in terms of their commitment to quality, integration of Broadway with historic downtown, and timing (they're ready to go yesterday).
I was particularly impressed with Hirahara's building and Licht's huge commitment to help jumpstart Commercial Lane as an attractive paseo. I'm pretty sure Council's difficult decision boils down to these two; in no small measure because they are both local and this is a very sensitive project where local appreciation and connections are beneficial to getting it right. That's my sense of what I witnessed, anyway.
I should mention the Mark Morris groups' advantage of owning property up Mt. Diablo -- possibly beneficial in better unifying that stretch. I don't think this was viewed as integral as the other criteria mentioned above.
All three put together impressive teams of professionals in the hope of simply landing this 4000 sq ft of land (tiny) project.
Despite current issues with the business climate, based upon the unbridled enthusiasm I saw for this project, I don't see interest in developing downtown waning anytime soon. Hopefully, it will come with an insistence upon quality and scale we can all feel comfortable with -- that's the hard part.
obiwan
6:53 am on Friday, February 10, 2012
Thanks for the report Michael.
Sherry Bennett
9:30 pm on Friday, February 10, 2012
Brian, having seen the proposed building, I am so excited about your vision for that corner, I, for one am so thrilled to see something so interesting and inviting and current in architecture at this corner. I know the detail that you put into your projects and this will be so amazing and such a gem for the downtown!!!!!
WC-Independent
10:38 am on Saturday, February 11, 2012
Brian H. congrats on the proposal and the award of the project. We're counting on you to add to your legacy of great projects in this town. This corner can be a fantastic transition to the old part of town don't settle for anything but perfection. Good luck with the project.