| News - Friday, January 4, 2008
Upfront: This little plaza went to market
Marinwood thought strip-mall deal was in the bag...
by Peter Seidman
Prospects for a model mixed-use project in Marinwood got a big boost just before Christmas when the owner of a deteriorating strip mall signed a sales agreement with a huge real estate and investment firm.
The deal came as a surprise to many, even members of a local task force that has been working with the county and the property owner to transform Marinwood Plaza from a strip mall with vandalized and mostly empty buildings into a focal point for this neighborhood tucked into the valley between Terra Linda and Novato. For the last few years, members of the unincorporated Marinwood community, the county and the property owner, Gerald Hoytt Enterprises of Novato, have been engaged in a cooperative planning effort—in distinct contrast to the usual process. Until a few weeks ago, it seemed that Hoytt, who built some of the first houses in Marinwood in the 1950s, would sell the strip mall at the corner of Miller Creek Road and Marinwood Avenue to Monahan Pacific, whose owner lives in the area.
The proposed project created quite a buzz among sustainability and housing advocates. It also presented a new way that developers and neighborhoods could work cooperatively to create a development that meets the needs of local residents as well as the financial needs of property owners. Usually, a property owner will create a development plan and then present it to the community. In Marin, that action generally triggers community outrage because residents come late to the table. In 2005, county Supervisor Susan Adams attended a neighborhood development meeting designed to alter that dynamic. "Traditionally, a property owner brings a completed plan to the Planning Department for approval," states a March 2005 newsletter from Adams. That was after she attended a standing-room-only meeting at the Marinwood Community Center. "Typically, this is the point in the process where the community has the first chance to review and provide feedback, often placing the owner/developer at odds with the goals and wishes of the community."
But, thanks in large part to Hoytt, the Marinwood Plaza redevelopment could set a new example. Hoytt collaborated with a host of stakeholders, including the Marinwood Community Services District, the county Community Development Agency and Bridge Housing Corporation, a nonprofit affordable housing developer, to craft a mixed-use project. The goal was to renovate the 5-acre site with retail and housing, including a hefty percentage of affordable units.
In the fall of 2006, county supervisors voted to endorse a proposal that called for up to 32,000 square feet of retail space—including one key component, a grocery store. Bell Market had closed, leaving residents with two options: travel north to Novato or south to San Rafael for their groceries. The development concept also called for up to 100 residential units, many of which would be affordable. The housing units would be near the freeway and possible public transportation. The project took equal parts of community cooperation, forward thinking from the property owner and added a dose of sustainability tenets to fashion a plan that many hoped could become a model of cooperative development.
Although Hoytt had filed no formal development plan, the county was on board. The Countywide Plan already envisions between 70 and 100 units of housing on the site, notes Alex Hinds, director of the county's Community Development Agency.
Area residents generally like the proposal, but they were concerned that going to the maximum allowable number of housing units would overwhelm the site and create an unacceptable traffic burden. And they remained committed to their desire that a plan for the plaza should include a market.
For many local residents, having a market in the neighborhood means more than easy access to shopping, as does the revitalization of Marinwood Plaza itself. The Marinwood community really didn't even exist in the mid-1950s. There may have been new homes, but it wasn't until late in that decade that Marinwood took on the characteristics of a community. Marinwood wasn't alone in that evolution. The state Legislature created community services districts, allowing communities not served by city services to form agencies that could issue bonds and provide their own services. The Marinwood Community Services District now offers local residents access to a community center, a pool, tennis courts—and their own fire department. The district also plays an important role in protecting and supervising open space, parks and walking paths. Its location in a valley in large part defines the community and makes it distinct from San Rafael and Novato.
But Marinwood still lacks the real feel of a village-like community that neighbors desire because it lacks a village center. And that's what residents hoped a renovated Marinwood Plaza could provide.
Although the county had given at least a tentative nod to the development concept, and the Countywide Plan paved the way for the mixed-use concept, Hoytt and Monahan failed to reach an agreement. However, not many people knew that. Frank Nelson is a longtime Marinwood resident and chairman of the Marinwood Village Task Force, the group that was representing the community in crafting the development concept for the strip mall. Nelson and others in the community were aware that Hoytt and Monahan had been in some tough negotiations, but they were unaware that another player had entered the picture.
It was a surprise to Nelson when, just before Christmas, Hoytt signed a sales agreement with Trammell Crow, a major player in the world of real-estate investment. Why would a huge company like Trammell Crow be interested in a small redevelopment project like Marinwood Plaza? There's a local connection, and it could form the foundation of a project the Marinwood community has been wanting for years. Peter Brandon is the head of the Northern California development team at Trammell Crow. He also lives in Lucas Valley. "Ever since I moved here more than 10 years ago, I thought the area was great but it needs a little Mill Valley." Brandon refers to that feel of a small-town village that residents of Mill Valley so highly prize. It's what residents of Marinwood want; a place to take the kids for ice cream after a soccer game or a swim, to stop for a coffee and a chat after dropping off the kids at school.
Part of Brandon's job at Trammell Crow is to look for development opportunities. "I brought this to them as a great opportunity." The company agreed. Brandon says he approached Hoytt earlier about creating a project, but by that time Hoytt already was working with Monahan. When Hoytt and Monahan decided to part ways, Brandon and Trammell Crow were ready to take on the project.
It's too early to tell exactly what the Trammell Crow development proposal will look like—and what resemblance it will have to the Monahan Pacific idea—but one thing is certain, according to Brandon. "It will include a market." Brandon says that in addition, the new development proposal most probably will include a coffee shop. "That's a no-brainer." He also has an idea that may look good to the many artists who live in the area. Brandon says it may be possible to add artists' studios to the mix, offering something like the spaces artists use on the other side of the freeway on Smith Ranch Road. (Hinds says the county will continue to encourage a mix of market-rate, affordable and workforce housing on the site, which is a county housing overlay zone.) Brandon says he's looking forward to meeting with his "neighbors and friends" to discuss the issues before going to the county to begin creating the new project.
Nelson says he thinks the entrance of Trammell Crow sounds "very positive." But, he cautions, "The proof is in the pudding." Nelson adds that he and other development task force members, as well as the community as a whole, are ready "to be good listeners." The one item they are listening for most closely is the inclusion of a market in the final plans. But they also are keeping an eye on the number of housing units. At least some residents are concerned about the traffic the housing units will generate. "This project could become a poster child for a sustainability project," says Nelson, "but the [100-unit maximum housing element in the Countywide Plan] really exceeds the capacity of the site."
Talk about traffic impacts is a fact of planning life in Marin, even if the project is geared toward workforce housing and sustainability. "In Marin there is always going to be a healthy discussion" about traffic, says Hinds.
Monahan's departure may have made some residents nervous, especially when replaced by a huge company like Trammell Crow. But the local connection that Brandon gives to his company may calm those nerves. Getting involved in a project right in his neighborhood is "very exciting" for him. It's also quite a bit different from his last project. He spent about seven years getting the Pacific Shores Center project approved in Redwood City. Pacific Shores is a 107-acre corporate campus that has 1.5 million square feet of space. Brandon may have been working on the macro-planning scale on that project and in other development deals in Silicon Valley, but he's pleased to bring his expertise to a micro-planning endeavor right in his own backyard. After all, he says, even for a huge company, "real estate really is local."
To underscore the local connection, Trammell Crow has hired architect Bill Hansell to work on plans for the plaza. Hansell worked on the task force that helped create the original cooperative development concept. (He also serves on the Marinwood Community Services District.) Projects like Marinwood Plaza "often go sideways for a little while," says Hansell, referring to the stutter-start history of the Marinwood Plaza plan. "But [Brandon] coming on now with Trammell Crow is kind of like a regeneration of [the project]." The participation of local residents Brandon and Hansell, along with the innovative, cooperative approach that began from the start of the planning process, has a good chance to "bring something special to this project," says Hansell, who adds that plans for a renewed Marinwood Plaza should "create something unique to Marinwood. The concept for the ideas will develop right out of the site rather than have some cookie-cutter thing just plopped down [from outside the community]."
That's what the development task force, as well as Adams and others at the county, envisioned from the start: a project that could offer a blueprint for infill housing in the county. "Since World War II, so much development has been so poorly executed," says Hinds, "that it creates kind of a backlash against anyone proposing anything. We are really looking forward to seeing a good project go in there that people will look at and know that we can do better. That we can do positive things."
Contact the writer at peter@pseidman.com |
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