Looking at 3 Visions For Busy Retail Corner

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.

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.