Architectural rendering of some of the 898 apartments and grocery retail that would replace the existing former Sears store in Northgate Mall in San Rafael. The first phase is anticipated to get into construction in 2025. (courtesy of Merlone Geier, February 2021)
These days journalism faces plenty of challenges including shrinking resources, splintered audiences and plunging attention spans.
You still with me?
I’m old school, which means I think readers are well served by tracking ongoing stories. With this in mind, lets revisit San Rafael’s Northgate Mall in its attempt to redevelop the aging shopping center into a new mixed-use neighborhood.
Merlone Geir Partners LLC, Northgate’s owner, wants to transform the mall into a transit-friendly mix of housing, shopping and dining that would be built in two-phases over a 20-year period. The original plan called for a total of 1,422 housing units including apartments, affordable units and townhomes as well as a rezoning. It’s been through a number of public hearings and the city has considered the project and its design. That process is ongoing.
I say original plan because Merlone Geir has put forth a second plan for the 45-acre property. This plan was submitted under Senate Bill 330, aka the “housing crisis act of 2019.” That bill dictates that cities considering a project must review it in an expedient fashion and limits the scope of standards for the review. SB 330 makes the process faster and more structured as cities or counties are limited in such things as review conditions and number of public meetings.
On the face of it, it looks like Merlone has dueling plans, but the San Francisco developer and property investor says it will simply choose the plan that makes best economic sense, dropping the other.
Merlone has elected to turn up the heat on San Rafael. Prior to this Merlone had met with the public and conducted a lot of outreach to persuade locals the project would be a positive one for the Mission City. Predictably, the project has met with a mixed reception. Some in the community believe the new housing is preferable to an aging mall. On the other hand, the scale of the redevelopment has been attacked, as well as its potential for added traffic, energy and noise.
The SB 330 plan differs in total units, where elements are built and types of housing units. The new plan has 223 more units, including 166 more townhomes, as well as 22 more affordable units. Total housing units are 1,865. The affordable housing units would be spread throughout the project, rather than largely concentrated as in the original plan. The new plan does not ask for a rezoning of the property.
Buckle up, it might get bumpy.
Marin City gets a grocery outlet
The Gateway has a new tenant, Grocery Outlet. Each store is independently owned though it is associated with the chain. The chain is headquartered across the bay in Emeryville and is owned by private equity firms Berkshire Partners and Hellman & Friedman. The chain sells overstocks, discounted and discontinued goods. While it has lots of familiar brands it also has many private label products. On a recent visit, the North Bay’s Straus Creamery ice cream had a number of offerings in the freezer section.
Having shopped its aisles, I can tell you that if you find something you like, go back and stock up, it’s unlikely to be there the next time you shop.
Grocery Outlet is in the space formerly occupied by CVS. Before that it was a Longs.
Your Marin moment
Last year, in this very column, we looked at Sausalito considering the formation of business improvement district (BID). The city hired New City America Inc. to gauge interest in the project. Since then, the city council decided to move forward.
A BID is funded essentially by assessments on businesses in the district with the funds used to pay for items and services that are either not covered by the city, or that merchants believe will benefit businesses in the district. The district is basically downtown Sausalito.
March Li Mandri, president of New City, explained to the Marin IJ the need for a BID in Sausalito. “The property owners clearly want more, the business owners clearly want more, than what’s currently existing within the district,” Li Mandri said. “So, if someone happened to go to the park and they happened to have ice cream and they spilled the ice cream in the summer and it melted all over the place, you wouldn’t have to look at it for a week. It would be taken care of within a day or two. So those are the special benefits that would be provided.”
Inspiring isn’t a strong enough word.
Bill Meagher is a contributing editor at this fine publication and pens this column each month. He is also a senior reporter at The Deal, a digital financial news outlet based in Manhattan. He covers alternative investment, SPACs and the SEC. He lives in a state of siege with his wife Cindy, two dogs named Taylor and Shelby, four cats named Vince, Clark, Tyra and Snoopy Midnight and a feral named Matt.
