City, developer close to deal
'A STEP FORWARD': The San Bernardino council will vote on a project near the Santa Fe Depot.
10:00 PM PDT on Sunday, September 24, 2006
|
Once, San Bernardino officials hoped to transform the dusty streets around the city Metrolink stop into a shopping and dining destination spot.
Now, nearly two years after a development company seized control of land officials coveted for the project, they're close to a more modest deal, starting with a grocery store.
Under a tentative agreement approved by a city Redevelopment Agency committee recently, La Placita on 2nd Street LLC will build a 100,000-square-foot shopping center on the site occupied by El Tigre Market, just south of the Santa Fe Depot.
Almost half the space in the $22 million project will go for a grocery store operated by Superior Super Warehouse, due to open next fall, according to an agency report.
Later, the developer will build a mixed, transit-oriented project on the south side of Second Street from K Street to Mount Vernon Avenue, which might include housing and service businesses such as laundries for commuters, San Bernardino City Councilwoman Esther Estrada said. The Redevelopment Agency would contribute $2 million toward that project.
The full City Council will vote on the agreement in October.
|
"This is definitely a step forward. Maybe not the total we had hoped for, but it's time to move forward," Estrada said.
Estrada, who represents the neighborhood around the depot, had argued for a mercado-style project similar to Olvera Street near Los Angeles Union Station. She saw it as the logical next step after the $15.6 million restoration of the historic depot building.
But in October 2004, as the Redevelopment Agency negotiated to buy the 8-acre El Tigre Market site for a maximum of $1.9 million, Downey-based Merona Enterprises scooped up the property for $3.2 million.
For the entire 84-acre redevelopment project around the depot, then-agency Director Gary Van Osdel had a budget of $4.5 million.
In an interview at the time, Van Osdel said there was no way the agency could meet the suddenly inflated purchase price.
So the property waited, a jumble of mom-and-pop shops in fading stucco, while the owners and city officials discussed development options.
Talks ranged from a Food4Less to a mixed residential and commercial development. The disposition and development agreement is the most substantive proposal to date.
"In the spirit of compromise, the owners of the site came up with this proposal. We can work with it," agency Executive Director Maggie Pacheco said.
She stressed that fountains and other architectural elements will complement the depot's Mission-style architecture.
"It won't look like a regular grocery store," Pacheco said.
Frank Heddens, who owns a muffler shop just east of the proposed development area, said he would be glad to see any business construction.
But he is skeptical that commuters will venture far from the depot until broader redevelopment clears away the neighborhood's scruffy bungalows and boarded-up shops.
"San Bernardino needs drastic change, and this is not drastic enough," he said.
Armando Delgado, Merona's vice president of real estate operations, declined a request for an interview. In a written statement, he said the company will "provide a retail environment that will encourage commuters to make visits to the center a routine and convenient part of their daily experience."
Estrada said she knows that experience will fall short of the glamorous setting she once had hoped would attract visitors from across Southern California.
For now, she'll settle for commuters stopping at a pharmacy or dry-cleaning shop on the way home from work.
"We're taking small bites at trying to turn the area around," she said. "If this project is what the market will support, I guess there's only so much you can do."
Reach Chris Richard at 909-806-3076 or crichard@PE.com
BS Ranch Perspective:
I Think that it is a good idea, however they need to stay in the right confines of the old building and the antique lines that was or is there. Or it will take away from the San Bernardino Train Depot and the History that has been there for so many years. I mean before the Route 66, the main way to travel was the train, and San Bernardino was a train stop more then it was anything else. Then it became a Route 66 Stop on the way to Los Angeles! So, they better not take away from the history that once was! Or the remodel will be a failure!
BSRanch
No comments:
Post a Comment