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Uploaded: Friday, March 14, 2008, 3:05 PM
City promotes downtown vision
Hotel on Castro, new retail in mix if developers step up
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by Daniel DeBolt
Mountain View Voice Staff
| The city's downtown could look dramatically different in the years ahead if backers can be found to fulfill its vision. On Tuesday, that vision was promoted by economic development director Ellis Berns during a presentation broadcast from City Hall.
Among other hints to developers during the presentation, the city sent a message that the timing may be right for a six-story hotel on the corner of El Camino Real and Castro Street, now that the former Bike Spring bike shop has been vacated.
Jessica von Borck, Mountain View business development specialist, suggested that the parcel could be combined with the city's adjacent "gateway park" on the corner of El Camino and Castro to make way for a huge hotel structure. The bike shop space is only for lease at this point, however.
The pitch for downtown was made to developers, retailers and real estate brokers in City Hall's first-ever Web cast, broadcast live on the city's Web site. During the presentation, Berns showed off Mountain View's downtown -- a place where the city has spent more than $200 million on revitalization, where the median age is 34, the median family income is $98,000 within a three mile radius, and 20,000 vehicle trips are made daily up and down Castro Street.
Possible sites for major developments mentioned during the presentation include the Wells Fargo lot on Church and Castro streets, which is zoned for a "rather large" building. But more consequential would be the redevelopment of a strip of small shops for sale at 702-738 Villa Street on the corner of Hope Street. A structure of up to four stories could be built there according the downtown precise plan, possibly booting out the small businesses currently at that location -- Bangkok Spoon restaurant, Plumeria women's clothes, Carmen's Legal Resource Center, Salon Finesse, A Minute Man Shoe Repair and Vintage Collectible Cameras.
The asking price: $2.6 million.
The presentation also revealed how much some downtown businesses pay for rent. A 900-square-foot space near Posh Bagel had an asking price of nearly $5 per square foot, or nearly $5,000 a month rent.
Neither are the city's free parking lots immune to redevelopment, with zoning in place to encourage public-private partnerships on a few lots, though the city's precise plan mentions requirements to maintain some public parking on the lots in underground garages.
In pitching the merits of downtown, Berns mentioned the $100 million the city spent in the 1980s and '90s for the city's library, City Call and performing arts center, which boasts 60,000 patrons every year. Also mentioned was the new parking garage on California and Bryant streets which houses Longs on the bottom floor, described as a new "focal point" for the community.
Berns said the city is actively trying to encourage more retail downtown for a more lively mix of businesses. Only 11 percent of businesses are retail, Berns said, but 24 percent are restaurants and 35 percent are office buildings.
The presentation was broadcast on the Web to support the city's environmental sustainability initiative, Berns said. Rather than have all those developers, brokers and retailers drive their cars to Mountain View, the city can reach a wider audience this way, he said.
Web casts will be archived at city's Web site at www.mountainview.gov. The March 25 City Council meeting will be the first council meeting to be Web cast. Are you receiving Express, our free daily e-mail edition? See a sample and sign-up for Express.
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Posted by Bernie Brightman, a resident of the North Whisman neighborhood, on Mar 15, 2008 at 10:21 am The city might want to think about the fact that the economy is going into a slide right now and consider belt tightening for a while rather than an armful of expensive new projects.
Build a big new hotel in a bad economy and you end up with a bunch of empty rooms.
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Posted by Andrew, a resident of the Old Mountain View neighborhood, on Mar 17, 2008 at 12:52 am Looking another way, start planning the building of a hotel, and in a few years when it is ready the business cycle might be turning the corner...
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Posted by Garrett, a resident of another community, on Mar 17, 2008 at 3:26 pm The Enomony ig going south, but you got to think about the future, and who knows might be someone out there willing to build, workers working due help the economy. Plan for the future now.
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Posted by ccz, a resident of the Old Mountain View neighborhood, on Mar 18, 2008 at 7:09 am No, thank you. I live in Old Mountain View and think it's a terrible idea to put a hotel at the corner of El Camino and Castro. There is already a humongous amount of traffic on that corner. Plus Castro street would be backed up even worse than it already is. The Old Mountain View area streets (other than Castro) are quiet and charming. To add a hotel would ruin that. A bed and breakfast could be nice alternative. Or would we have a need quaint diner. Us locals that live near the corner of El Camino and Castro would like a nice hot breakfast that serves good coffee that we could walk to.
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Posted by Andrew, a resident of the Old Mountain View neighborhood, on Mar 18, 2008 at 9:06 am A bigger downtown hotel would actually be nice for that spot. You don't ruin the charm of the street further down towards the train tracks, and you now have a much more local spot for any MV businesses downtown. Should a developer choose to build another office building in the downtown corridor, having a nicer hotel within walking distance would be a big sell. Granted, Hampton Inn is down the street the other way from Castro street. Also, the city should make sure it doesn't end up like the Pacific Euro hotel on Evelyn.
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Posted by dfb, a resident of the Shoreline West neighborhood, on Mar 18, 2008 at 2:25 pm I don't think the timing is ever wrong to discuss projects intended to improve downtown, good economy or bad. The corner of Castro and El Camino is a good place for a hotel, or even a mixed use project.
That said, I think the city should direct its efforts at improving San Antonio Shopping Center and the surrounding commercial area. In addition, it should concentrate its efforts towards making the city more pedestrian and bicycle friendly to encourage people to ditch their cars for local trips.
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Posted by mv resident, a resident of the Blossom Valley neighborhood, on Mar 19, 2008 at 9:59 pm
I have an idea. How about placing a hotel on the corner across the street from Washington Mutual? The property is vacant from a fire which ocurred last year. It's near Peet's Coffee Shop.
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Posted by GSB, a resident of the Castro City neighborhood, on Mar 19, 2008 at 10:07 pm MV Resident,
Trying to cross the street at that intersection is crazy enough as it is. A hotel at that location would cause serious traffic and pedestrian issues.
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Posted by Ago, a resident of the North Whisman neighborhood, on Mar 20, 2008 at 1:38 pm Perhaps the city in their long terms plans might consider building one of those overhead bridges for pedestrians/bicyclists to go across the intersection of Castro and El Camino more safely. Another bridge at the other end of downtown on the corner of Castro and Central would be great as well.
Because of the surrounding residential neighborhood downtown Mountain View can only grow so wide in the future. There is certainly room for downtown to grow longer though. This makes even more sense since the city is considering a free shuttle that could potentially go up and down Castro and bring people to and from their homes, workplaces, restaurants, Caltrain, VTA, etc.
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Posted by Addy, a resident of the Old Mountain View neighborhood, on May 9, 2009 at 10:42 am Before we decide to pour a bunch of money into the downtown area, let's work on cleaning it up first. The nightclubs (one in particular) are a huge eyesore for the community and extremely upsetting to the downtown residents. They bring in people who do not live here, who host "after bar" parties in the parking lots of downtown until all hours of the night, even weeknights. There have been fights, apparent drunk driving, and many other issues associated with the people who frequent this club. Until the police and the city do a better job of managing this problem, it seems silly to put so much money into projects to bring more people down here.
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