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City Council members struggled to keep a bagel shop in business as a shopping center owner proposed to replace it and several other businesses with a new fitness center aimed at serving “the upwardly mobile.”
The fitness center is called the City Sports Club. Said to be owned by the world’s largest fitness company, it has “upwardly mobile, affluent clientele” with “disposable income,” a representative told the council Tuesday, June 25.
Council members voted 5-0 to allow the fitness center, with several conditions. Member Chris Clark recused himself because he owns property nearby while Mike Kasperzak was absent.
The 24-hour fitness center would go in a 40,000-square-foot space that has been occupied by Rite Aide, New York Pizza and The Better Bagel. Marshalls and several other small businesses would remain. The landlord had found a way to relocate New York Pizza, but not the 20-year-old bagel shop, which concerned council members.
The married couple that owns the the Better Bagel said they would lose their livelihood.
“We have two kids in school, that’s the only income we have,” said Ted, one of the owners. “I did not seek any legal help or anything because I thought I couldn’t afford it. All my regular customers urged me to come here to hopefully talk and work something out. This is my last hope.”
City Attorney Jannie Quinn said it was beyond the council’s authority to require relocation of the bagel shop, though most council members wanted to.
“It is our jobs to keep the fabric of Mountain View intact,” said council member Jac Siegel. “We’re changing the fabric of the city.”
“I want to see hard work happening to try and retain that business,” said council member Ronit Bryant.
Eventually Carter Hemming, representing the owner of the shopping center, stepped in. “We would be more than happy to accommodate Better Bagel,” he said, but that it would mean the business would have to shut down for four months as the building is remodeled and new space is made for them in the Rite Aide’s former garden center. He said he wasn’t sure the bagel shop could afford that.
Mayor Inks said the owners have been trying to find a new tenant for the Rite Aide site for years. He said it could “go dark” if the council imposed unrealistic requirements on the project. The problem has been the building’s “throated” entryway. Customers enter through a long corridor created by the addition of the small business spaces in front of the building, an unattractive design that no major retailer wants, Hemming said.
The Fitness Center is not a use allowed by the site’s zoning, requiring the council to vote on a provisional use permit. Without it, Hemming said a grocery store could take the site, and several grocery stores are interested, despite the presence of a Nob Hill and Ranch 99 next door. No council vote would be required.
“I think you’ll hear a lot more opposition to something like that, if that includes losing all businesses on the front side, including Better Bagel” said council member Margaret Ab-Koga of the grocery store option.
Council members did require changes at the rear of the site where residents are likely to enter on Pamela Drive. City staff may end up requiring windows, new lighting, asphalt, pedestrian pathways, and a rear entrance to the building to encourage use of the rear parking lot — all were suggestions by council members.
“I can’t support anything unless we do some serious improvement to the back,” said council member Ronit Bryant. “The driveway is badly maintained and very unpleasant.”
Hemming said adding windows to the building would not be possible because of the building’s cement walls.
Terrible –
The city council is out of their damn minds. They are the ones ruining the fabric of Mountain View.
Rush Hour traffic on Grant Rd is a disaster as it is, one problem: Huff parents driving their kids to school, blocking lanes because of the necessary left/right turns. Fitness Centers traditionally cater to Professionals, going before and after work. Has anybody looked into the impact of these extra cars for local traffic patterns in the morning and evening?
Has anybody looked at the packed parking lots on weekends? While the Rite Aid definitely needs an upgrade, we should not lose anymore small businesses in MV.
The city council pays to move illegal immigrants out of la Costena, but won’t pay to move a business? Sounds about right.
wow! that Rite Aide has been there for years it was a Payless attached to an Albertson’s – at one time there it was a Greyhound ticket area where kids would catch the bus to go to S.F in the 60’s. Shame that they couldn’t upgrade the current area with the current stores.
They’ll be chasing away all the seniors that sit out front of the bagel shop, closing down the Chinese restaurant and all the other nice little shops in the area.
“for upwardly mobile, affluent clientele” with “disposable income”
We have two 24 hr. Fitness gyms in Mountain View and two more in Sunnyvale,and a Gold’s Gym, and El Camino YMCA in Mountain View. We don’t need another gym! More retail space would provide sales revenue for the city.
City counsel members can’t help a 20 year business? I thought the purpose of being elected was to help your constituents? Maybe its just constituents who are large, wealthy property owners who “cater to the upwardly mobile”? The counsel wants to change Rose’s, Pete’s and now the Bagel shop? What is wrong with people sitting out doors enjoying a meal or coffee?
Why one more Fitness center..we already have some around the city…we have the YMCA who is great also why destroy all small business we need. So nice to go over there and to catch a quick lunch between shopping…the city wants only to satisfy two parties the landlord and the owner of the fitness…only money..please think about human been..the couple of the bagels place is surviving and is living with their business and they do not make a lot of. Money on it….I am so sorry to see the degradation of MV..I go every day over there and enjoy to see all those small shops….it is a life and you want to transform this place as an industry..robot…and I love to exercice but prefere to see happy people around me..stop and please reconsidere your decision…upgrade all retail spaces and parking..
It is not the city’s job to dictate who a landlord should or should not rent to as long as it is within the city’s zoning regs.
Our city council SUCKS! I say we ALL get off our backsides and vote every single one of them OUT!
ChrisH – traffic? No problem. They are gay friendly, unlike Chick-fil-a
Oh,no. I stop in to the Better Bagel at least once a week. My siblings and I have been going there for YEARS. What is happening to my home town? I’m sad and disappointed that a family-run business (a well-loved one!) is being replaced by a fitness center that isn’t even allowed in the current site’s zoning. We have enough gyms in Mountain View. It would be a huge shame to lose this business and I pray that it can be saved.
I am sure the “upwardly mobile, affluent clientele” will want to work out at a strip mall.
The city can do nothing to help out a long time small business yet they are at the beck and call of Google.
Would love to see Better Bagel relocate to intersection of Sylvan and El Camino (there is space available at the old Office Bar location). We need local coffee shop in that area!
I am sure the “upwardly mobile, affluent clientele” will want to work out at a strip mall.
The city can do nothing to help out a long time small business yet they are at the beck and call of Google.
Would love to see Better Bagel relocate to intersection of Sylvan and El Camino (there is space available at the old Office Bar location). We need local coffee shop in that area!
The exterior of Bryant’s house is, in her own words, “badly maintained and very unpleasant.”
Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!
I am sure the “upwardly mobile, affluent clientele” will want to work out at a strip mall.
The city can do nothing to help out a long time small business yet they are at the beck and call of Google.
Would love to see Better Bagel relocate to intersection of Sylvan and El Camino (there is space available at the old Office Bar location). We need local coffee shop in that area!
I am sure the “upwardly mobile, affluent clientele” will want to work out at a strip mall.
The city can do nothing to help out a long time small business yet they are at the beck and call of Google.
Would love to see Better Bagel relocate to intersection of Sylvan and El Camino (there is space available at the old Office Bar location). We need local coffee shop in that area!
Every single person on the city council should be removed. This is asinine.
As some people above have mentioned. There are plenty of fitness center. Especially a if it’s catering to “affluent clientele”. This is Mtn. View. Not Los Gatos.
As for poster, USA. I love gay people. Even you.
This is awful! We have tons of gyms around the area already.. Why does this gym have to be built at the expense of family-run businesses?
My teenage children just shrieked at the thought of “a big fitness center catering to rich a**holes” moving there. There’s a thing called the YMCA down the street. NY Pizza is VERY popular (read: safe place for teens to hang out after school). The council is willing to throw mom and pop under the bus for what, another big business, this time in a space that is not even zoned for that?
Guess my family will start eating a lot more bagels now…
Why does Jac Siegel always express reservations about a big change, and then proceed to vote in favor of it?
Who is Ronit Bryant to say what is or is not very unpleasant?
Why did John McAlister (“residents first”) vote to put a small business out of business?
Mountain View used to have a lot more charm…the farm on Grant, the water tank off Bryant, the little mom and pop stores. Now it’s just more big retail and big Google.
Fix this so the mom and pop don’t have to give up 4 months pay. I’m pretty sure this affluent expendable income crowd can pony up 4 month’s revenue to compensate them while they are shut down. 1.5x revenue for every month past that.
FIX THIS!!!
USA: “It is not the city’s job to dictate who a landlord should or should not rent to as long as it is within the city’s zoning regs.”
But from the article: “The Fitness Center is not a use allowed by the site’s zoning, requiring the council to vote on a provisional use permit.”
No problem. The council will simply issue the permit until they change the zoning. Oftentimes they won’t allow small exemptions to home owners, but they’ll change the zoning on a whim.
I’m very relieved to see so many opposed to this stupidity. This city council sucks…that’s not news.
“It is our jobs (sic) to keep the fabric of Mountain View intact” – Jac Siegel.
If that is, indeed their ‘jobs’, I’ve never seen a group so pathetically incompetent at work. Unless ‘fabric’ is a new slang term for money…
Don’t understand our city council and their determination to get rid of all our small businesses. That Bagel Shop and New York Pizza are some of the best places around. Is there still a possibility we may loose the other small businesses (Rose Market, Pete’s, Alteration place etc.) on Castro and El Camino as well as Milk Pail Market being driven out by the developer of our new shopping mall? We should be striving to keep these places. They are what make Mountain View unique. Why do we need another huge gym? I am so disappointed in you council members and in myself for voting for some of you. Not happy with a lot of your actions lately.
I’m not going to weigh in on the decision to allow or dis-allow the fitness center, but I will say that I agree whole-heartedly that the side of that building facing Pamela Drive needs to be improved. I walk there frequently from Old Mountain View (taking Phyllis to Pamela) and that little stretch along the back of the Rite Aid is about the worst part of the walk. The building and sidewalk are dirty, the lighting is poor, the trees are overgrown, and there are often RVs/campers parked on that stretch where people appear to be living in their vehicles. That area definitely needs some improvements!
” Do as I say, not as I do ” seems to apply when history and common sense is needed vs $$$ waved in front of your government chairwarmers..
The fact that you MUST CHANGE ZONING means LIARS AND CHEATS run Mountain View these days!
I think that too many chairwarmers at City Hall have too much ” disposable income “. You TAXPAYERS need to fix that….
Where is the charm of small shops? Your are eliminating the places that seniors can readily reach. Without RiteAid, I will have to go to Los Altos for all my needs. Grant Road makes it difficult to go all the way to the Riteaid in Sunnyvale. Too many bad experiences at CVS.
Big money seems to be the only thing that is important.
We always avoid Grant Road and come in the back way because of all the backups. Wait until school starts again . No school buses means most students will be driven to school.
PLEASE don’t do this.
Looks like there might be another zoning change at the Americana Shopping Plaza (TJ Maxx to replace Lucky?)
http://laserfiche.mountainview.gov/WebLink/ElectronicFile.aspx?docid=66208
I think I’m seeing a trend in these comments. The city we loved and supported, and that supported us is being “developed” in ways we fund undesirable.
Who profits from this? MV residents? Outsiders?
It seems that businesses (groceries, a drug store, dining places, etc.) that are convenient for many people are being removed, with no suitable replacement being provided. Those of us with limited means and limited ranges of travel will have to use more resources to accomplish what we now can do locally.
Google must want it.
Small businesses are one of the things that make a town exciting. Keep the Bagel Shop and Rose Market in Mountain View.
How about getting a food truck with tent for a seating area? Just need to set it up for 4 months. With all these high density units would think the residents would love to see Bagel Shop, Rose Market, Milk Pail, True Value and all those little businesses. Just right out the front door.
Yes the owner could get a large retailer needing frontage on Grant Rd. Something about that car door to store door without any other businesses to draw you away.
That was the fun thing about Payless/Rite Aid was those small businesses in a corridor. I think we do better then a gym but then we could do worse. How about a Wal Mart grocery store.
Meant to say towards the end. We could do better then a gym.
The other thing about traffic, haven’t ever seen large traffic jams around fitness centers.
We need Rite Aid, we don’t need a fitness center in a shopping mall. There was no need to change the zoning to allow this, it’s silly. Let’s back up and start over the idea that a third grocery store would locate here sounds like an empty threat. Let’s get proof before we make this change
@Roger – if there is such a “threat” of a 3rd grocery store, why is there talk of replacing Lucky by a TJ Maxx on the other side of 85?
http://laserfiche.mountainview.gov/WebLink/ElectronicFile.aspx?docid=66208&dbid=0
How sad to see more small businesses be replaced by large chain stores. Maybe we should change MV name too.
Why do I get the feeling that this gym will have a Chinese focus with English language being secondary? There is a trend going on in that direction in that shopping center if anyone has noticed.
Rite Aid which nearly went bankrupt in 2012 has been closing stores to reduce their debt. Rite Aid is the 3rd largest drug store in the US, behind Walgreens and CVS. Wal Mart, Costco, and Safeway have taken customers away.
The owner of the shopping center should find a way to keep the bagel shop open or the gym customers should learn to use that corridor. Why every business needs to face a parking lot is beyond me.
Land is privately owned Zoned for retail The city can only object to changing it to a gym. Saving a store front 12 x 40 is a nice thought but small change to a multimillion dollar deal. How can rite aid even stay open? Yes the parking will be bad once 100 cars are added.
TJ Max at the Lucky store? Just a block down is an old Sunnyvale rite aid lot waiting for retail to move in. (Better foot traffic) Maybe the Gym should take over Luckys?
Does the city council read this blog? Is the city council just saying “screw all of you, we know better”? This is unbelievable!! I’m from Mountain View, you know, the place that use to be so charming…
I don’t see so much wrong with switching out Rite Aid for a Gym. The Gym is not what is displacing the bagel shop. It’s the desire for the frontage of the Rite Aid space to increase, however it is used. The parking lot there is 50% empty if you just look at the back. None of the existing businesses have a door that opens to the back and if there’s a Gym there with a door, surely people will park in the back, for the first time. There is a loading dock for Rite Aid, a very large one. Surely the Gym won’t need one. You can put windows in concrete walls. For example, the loading docks need to be reconstructed away anyway, and you could just replace the roll up doors with large windows. The key thing is the door.
I don’t understand why the don’t just remodel the former garden area right away, so that it can be ready before the Rite Aid moves out. Probably Rite Aid would object, I guess. Anyway, it would make a good spot for the Bagel place.
Its all about money. The Fitness Center will be paying more for the Rite Aid location than what Rite Aid wants to pay. Good Bye Rite Aid. Too bad. The Plaza is surrounded by senior living apartments and need a good pharmacy. New York Pizza will move next to Una Mas. Guess what… they will be paying more money for that location.
Parking in the back of the Plaza is too dangerous. Tons of homeless people sleeping back there.
Better Bagel staff and their clientel are like family. Everybody knows each other.
No Rite Aid, No Bagel Shop…Looks like I won’t be visiting that area anymore. Hope the landlord rots in hell.
Rite Aid doesn’t want a increase in rent while other businesses have seen their rents rise. The owner of shopping center has paid for up grades and is trying to find places for the tenants. The space where Rite Aid has one big design flaw. That I’d no frontage along Grant Rd, interior space.
A gym, I have seen many with rear entrances and in places that are hard to fill.
Closing Rite Aid would leave Walgreens with its smaller inventory as the only general merchandise store for a large area. Traffic, which is already at gridlock, would increase because upscale clients won’t use public transportation to get to the gym. The area isn’t upscale, there are quite a few gyms in the area, and many companies have their own gyms. This isn’t a good fit for this community – a bowling alley that provides family entertainment would be a better fit. The garden area of Rite Aid is large enough for both Better Bagel and NY Pizza. With a shared seating area and restrooms, the cost of construction, rent and utilities would be reduced for both stores. There would be room for an outdoor eating area also for the enjoyment of all including customers who have dogs.
The fact that this proposal requires re-zoning seems to indicate this is far more beneficial to the shopping center and gym owners than for the people who live in the community. The fabric of the community is being shredded by Mountain View City Council’s poor decisions.
The decision to re-zone will adversly impact a large number of people and may lead to more inappropriate re-zoning decisions. The City Council needs to seriously reconsider the options.
Rainbow, would you please run for City Council? You make a lot of good points. Your foresight and common sense is much needed.
How many more of these fitness things does the area need? Do people really need them to the point that they are popping up all over?
I’m not surprised that Rite Aid would leave the site as it is very large compared to newer, more focused Rite Aid locations.
Sad to see Rite Aid go, and a grocery would normally be many times preferable to another fitness thing that takes up huge space and only a small segment uses…..but in this case a fitness thing is preferable to a grocery with two already in the same center. Probably the best option is to tear down the Rite Aid and Marshall’s building and put in a new one that isn’t so out moded and could be configured for more attractive businesses.
We can’t decide what retailers or services people want to see, provide or even use. Gyms are a popular, having a good gym nearby is a plus, having a great one is better.
Retail market has changed, they are all struggling to maintain shares in the market, even grocery stores. T.J.Maxx which is trying for the Lucky’s site owns Home Goods, soft goods selling.
We have lots of Apartments going up, people are going to need to buy stuff. Maybe Home Goods should switch we Club Sport in sites.
I forgot the main reason the city likes redevelopment. New property Tax base (prop 13). New rent rates and higher sales tax if all goes well. Just recall how long it took the old Hardware store, book store, Batting cage, Circuit city and now Nob Hill took to Develop. (Nob Hill almost went under)
And another long time (18 years) family business (Grant Dry Cleaner owned by the Kim Family)has to leave the City because their new lease terms next to the new Sports Facility are impossible to fulfill. Asked about the empty store fronts (former Round Table and Bank) in the Walgreens shopping center Mr Kim said ” same problem” could not make a living.
So I lost my post office to higher rent and now my dry cleaner. Instead we see more empty store fronts. My quality of living in MV is slowly but steadily declining. What is next?
While I don’t very much care for the massive urbanization of Mountain View, I think some points should be clarified lest we waste time and energy arguing against a bunch of myths and misconceptions.
“Another gym”. Gold’s is short timing it with the new Linkedin megaplex to be tucked in next to Goog on Shoreline. So while the gyms get closer together, there’s no net gain.
“Pushing Rite Aid out”. Rite Aid wanted to reduce their footprint in the mall, not walk away. But the conditions imposed on them by the city of Mtn View made walking away the only viable option. In a sense they did push Rite Aid out but Rite Aid is the only one of the 3 big chains (CVS, Walgreens and them) that is shrinking.
Parking in the mall-especially on weekends-will be horrendous. The 99 Ranch crowd easily fills up 2/3 of the front lot. That said, this gym at least will be walkable (unlike Golds).
Lastly, the City Council. That’s the most depressing situation. There’s an ingrained old-boys (girls) network in Mtn View that sorely restricts the pool of viable candidates. I too often find myself voting for candidates I dislike the least rather than like. Unfortunately, we can’t vote for the anonymous planning commission appointees until they run for Council to pay off their political debts.
Does anyone know what’s happening with TJ Maxx’s request to move into the Lucky building?
I don’t give much of a damn about Rite Aid, but this is yet another example of the brainless decision making process of our city council. The El Camino YMCA, with it’s outstanding gym facilities, is a short distance from this site, and is a huge part of community building in this area. This new gym will undoubtedly offer very aggressive, short term incentives to lure people away from the Y, endangering the viability of that community resource. It will also negatively impact traffic and parking at that center. No legitimate rationale for a zoning exception here. Just poor judgement and leadership (yet again) from the city council.
You’re kidding. The Y is an overpriced out of date gym. This new gym offers people a choice and traffic will be no worse than it was before. If this affects the Y, then it tells me the Y was not the valuable communities resource it thought it was. The Y charges excessive prices and the new gym charges what the market will bear. Can’t wait for this gym to open. Good riddance to the Y
Club is open and there is no parking as predicted. Unfortunately this trend is happening all over.
No parking? Really? You mean there is no parking 20 ft from the store you want to walk in to.
Not the club’s fault. There’s rarely more than a couple dozen people in it.
I dropped the Y and joined city sports in November. Plenty of parking compared to the Y lot, better facilities, all at a cheaper price.
I didn’t know City Sports had a pool.
Yes, they have a small lap pool. Nothing like what the Y has. Really an apples & orange comparison and not just for swimming.
Yes, City Sports does have a swimming pool. They also have an expanse of exercise equipment, including many, many treadmills. The facility is very deep, leading to a weight room, along with where the locker rooms are. You get a workout just walking back to the locker rooms.
I am still with the YMCA, but a month ago I stepped into City Sports to check it out. I was given a tour of the establishment. Then taken to a desk where membership was explained to me and its prices. It was like a hard sale, almost in my face. The initiation fee was reduced along with whatever my monthly fee would be. So I joined. The next day I was taken to another desk and spoken to by another trainer. This time whatever paper he was writing on to explain things to me, he eventually turns this paper over. This side of the paper revealed the monthly charges of having a personal trainer costs. And this was also a hard sale. Very deliberate. I am in no way “affluent” but I decided on a once a week training session. And that comes out to $200 a month for me, a “nonaffluent” person.
I have only used this facility 4 times this month (March) and have not been inside in THREE WEEKS!!!
I will go back to the Y just up the road on Grant. It happens to be cheaper for me. Now I have had my say.
Why do gyms always give the hard sell, make you sign long contracts, and only take automatic payments? It’s so off putting. I get that they like this scheme because they need to secure some kind of profit in their fickle industry. Still, can’t they think up better, consumer-friendly membership practices? I like the location of this gym but would only use it 2 to 3 times a week to workout on a few weight machines and a treadmill. I don’t want to be solicited about personal training, nor do I want to sign a contract that is going to be a headache to get out of. Need they be reminded that most people go to a gym to decrease the stress in their lives, not add to it? If this club struggles to get members then they should look to innovate their membership practices.
Best gym in the area is the JCC. A plethora of fitness classes that are taught by talented trainers. Expensive, but you get what you pay for.
If you want to pay a lot less, then city sports is what you need. They follow the 24 hr fitness model of the hard sell and unqualified instructors making minimum wage. With lower member fees, they have to make it up somewhere! Unlike 24 hour, they keep the facility clean.
Gyms fail ALL THE TIME. Whatever you do, do NOT sign up for an extended membership. When it goes under, you will not be reimbursed. Ask anyone from one of the failed gyms in this area in the past 20 yrs or so. Whatever you do, pay by the month.
The hard sell gyms are telling you something if you’re perceptive enough to see it during their sales efforts. They are selling EVERYONE hard because they want numbers in the gym; masses. Profits will only come with crowds, or at least crowds or members paying each month. They will not rest until it is crowded. And how much are you paying for this each month? There is no magic bullet unless you pay for an exclusive and very private facility.
With most of the member quitting after a few months, yes they want as many and as long of a membership term as possible. The sales office work on commission thus the 2nd push for and hard sell. Parking lot was full on 2 weekend I passed by. Even in the Nob Hill area. Parking in the backside look iffy with the large number of people with shopping carts filled with cans roaming around.
With most of the member quitting after a few months, yes they want as many and as long of a membership term as possible. The sales office work on commission thus the 2nd push for and hard sell. Parking lot was full on 2 weekend I passed by. Even in the Nob Hill area. Parking in the backside look iffy with the large number of people with shopping carts filled with cans roaming around.
An ideas about what can go into that space when the gym closes? It’s a larger space so it poses interesting possibilities.
I pay $39 per month. Far lower than the Y. Its very convenient and not as crowded. parking is also easier than ay the Y.
That is a decent price. How do their swim programs compare to the Y?
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An UNBIASED Traffic IMPACT study!! Where’s the council’s interest towards that!?
Grant traffic conditions and the ridiculous “traffic management cameras” installed a few years back are examples of terrible execution by our city “leaders”. When in session, the vehicular traffic feeding into Huff Elementary (Phyllis/Martens Ave. – located near the shopping center) traffic 2x daily M-F is legendary. Continue onwards down to the hospital or MVHS and enjoy the lengthy bumper to bumper drive.
Squeeze out mom and pop stores and make conditions more congested and miserable for Mountain View residents while making concessions for big business interests: Way to go MV Council!!
I agree the YMCA is too expensive for what it is… not enough parking, limited hours, classes seem to be using the pool all the time… the basketball/volleyball courts are nice but the equipment isn’t on par with even the old 24HR