The groundwork for the move began last year, when the company filed plans with Tolleson to double its production facilities by investing $1.7 million into the 180,000-square-foot plant. The company is adding 142,000 square feet and told the city it will add 50 jobs. It’s clear the company figures most employees who worked in Corte Madera will choose to forego a move to Tolleson.
The plume of steam has become a local landmark off Highway 101. At one time, the company employed 250 people and was among the largest employers in Marin County when the ownership was still local. In 1986, Peter and Patrick Hunt sold the business Handi-Kup to paper goods giant James River Corp. The company went on to become WinCup and says Marin employees will be offered jobs in sunny Arizona.
The company was conspicuous for reasons beyond the puffs of steam generated by the plant. It was one of the few companies in Marin that was geared to industrial manufacturing.
Jim Helfrich owns the land the plant sits on, and he received notice from WinCup regarding the trio of buildings being vacated. The town of Corte Madera has identified the site as a possibility for multifamily housing. The property, which borders Highway 101, is across the street from a group of office buildings and kitty corner from the much beloved Department of Motor Vehicles. The Tamal Vista neighborhood is a mix of office, industrial, retail and residential, so the plans for apartments makes some sense, though the housing element plan is still in development and including housing would require a zoning change.
As for WinCup, Marin employees who might choose to make the trek will find a city 10 miles west of Phoenix. It has an industrial base that includes an Albertson’s distribution center as well as one for Krogers, with a combined 1,200 employees. Sysco Food Service employs 610 at a distribution center, and Sun Land Beef Co. has 1,350 employees working a slaughterhouse.
Supermarkets and subdivisions
To the north of WinCup in Corte Madera, the long-time Tiburon business Boardwalk Market is planning on opening a new store in San Rafael in June or July at the very vacant Bell Market site at Marinwood Plaza.
Boardwalk’s owner, Jeanne Fitzgerald, lost her lease in Tiburon, and Woodland’s Market is moving into the 7,000-square-foot space this spring. Fitzgerald tried to cut a deal for the vacant Delano’s space at Tiburon’s Cove Shopping Center, but the numbers didn’t work out. Gerald Hoytt, who developed the Marinwood Shopping Center in the 1960s, approached Fitzgerald about taking over the former Bell Market space. The strip center, located off southbound Highway 101 at the Marinwood exit, has fallen on hard times. The only store in the center as of February was Savemor Discount Liquors. Bell Market left the center in 2006. Other former tenants include Chuck E. Cheese, as well as a dry cleaner and a video store. A farmers market has set up shop once a week on Saturdays. Hoytt is trying to fill the rest of the center with a bakery and a hair salon.
There’s been much discussion by locals and the county over the future of the strip center. The Countywide Plan calls for a mixed-use approach to the property, but the number of housing units is the source of much disagreement.
Meantime, Metallica’s James Hetfield is exploring the possibility of becoming a developer. He’s submitted a pre-application to the county for 34 home sites in Lucas Valley.
Marin has a history of rockers who aren’t content simply creating music. Carlos Santana designed women’s shoes and handbags and has four restaurants in California. Sammy Hagar created the Cabo Wabo brand of tequila before selling off 80 percent to Grupo Campari. The Red Rocker still owns several eateries, including El Paseo with celebrity chef Tyler Florence; he also owns a piece of the Aqua Hotel. This is to say nothing of the J. Garcia line of cravats based on the Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia’s artwork. So Hetfield’s possible move into development isn’t without some prescient.
The 34 homes would be located on the lower portion of Hetfield’s Rocking H2 Ranch, a 600-acre spread in Lucas Valley. The preliminary application was turned in by Hetfield and his planning consultant, Scott Hochstrasser of IPA Inc. of Fairfax. Hetfield has donated 330 acres of Rocking H2 to Marin Open Space District as well as 440 acres from Rocking H1 Ranch, an adjacent property owned by Hetfield.
The project would be located across from the existing 34-home Westgate subdivision. It would include 27 homes grouped together on one-acre lots, with seven other homes to fulfill workforce housing requirements.
Nick’s Cove looking for love…and cash
The ambitious Nick’s Cove and Cottages in Marshall is on the block and, even as you read this, may have already been sold. The creation of well-known restaurateur Pat Kuleto, the restaurant and 11 cottages is smothered beneath $13 million in debt, and Kuleto is talking to at least two investors about taking the Tomales Bay eatery off his hands. One of the negotiating parties is Mill Valley’s Moana Hotel & Restaurant Group. Moana owns and operates the Piatti restaurant chain as well as Auberge du Soleil in Napa.
Kuleto and partner-chef Mark Franz of San Anselmo bought the ramshackle property in 1999, and it took seven years to meander through the planning approval process. The business opened in 2007, shortly before the economy as we know it collapsed.
A disgruntled investor leaked news of the sale to the Point Reyes Light based on a letter Kuleto wrote to investors telling them Nick’s is a “complete disaster” and a “complete loss of your finan-cial investment.”
Not such a tasty tidbit.
Bill Meagher is contributing editor at NorthBay biz. He’s drank Hagar’s tequila, seen Carlos live but has never worn one of Jerry’s ties and isn’t planning on buying one of Hetfield’s homes or Nick’s Cove. You can reach him at bmeagher@northbaybiz.com.
