The developer who bought property at Civic Center Way and Cross Creek Road, where Papa Jack’s Skate Park is located, said the store would be about 35,000 square feet in size. Additional stores, and possibly a restaurant, could also be built at the site.
By Jonathan Friedman / Assistant Editor
Developer Gordon Ekstrand, who last December purchased the six-acre Schultz property in the Civic Center area, said he is close to finalizing a 20-year lease for a Whole Foods Market. After the lease is finalized, Ekstrand said he would begin the permitting process.
Ekstrand and an unnamed Wall Street investor bought the Schultz property, located on the northwest corner of Civic Center Way and Cross Creek Road, across from Taverna Tony restaurant for an undisclosed sum. When asked how much he paid for the land, Ekstrand said, “A lot.”
Ekstrand said he estimates the Whole Foods store would be about 35,000 square feet in size, but said he would build facilities for additional businesses on the property, with a total development of 53,000 to 63,000 square feet. The developer said he would not be able to make money on his investment unless he built the additional facilities.
“It’s going to have some small shops,” said Ekstrand, who said he did not have any names of potential tenants yet. “I would suspect we’ll start negotiating soon, and we’ll be looking for at least one restaurant.”
The developer said the skate park currently located on the property would eventually be moved elsewhere on the land.
“It’s going to be made a little bit nicer,” Ekstrand said. “But that’s going to remain a part of the property.”
Ekstrand said he estimates the permitting process would take approximately a year, and he hoped Whole Foods could be ready for business by 2009.
Ekstrand is currently in the process of building a Whole Foods in Pasadena, which he said is a significantly larger project.
This is not the fist time a development project has been proposed for the Schultz property. Several years ago a plan was proposed for the construction of a 20,850-square-foot office park, consisting of six one-story structures and a 16,000-square-foot Longs Drug Store. Additionally, the new skate park would have been built there. The proposal was presented to the city’s Environmental Review Board in the spring of 2004. At the time, city officials said a draft environmental impact report for the project would be released soon. That never occurred, and rumors about plans for the land have circulated throughout the city ever since.
The public learned about the Whole Foods possibility last September at a City Council meeting. The Schultz family was requesting that the nearby Civic Center storm water treatment facility be shortened from 15 feet to 10 feet, when an attorney for the family said a Whole Foods was a possible tenant. It was then further revealed that Ekstrand was in attendance. He spoke to the media after the meeting, and revealed the basic concept for his plan, although at the time he was still in negotiation to buy the property.
Meanwhile, things are moving along with the development process for the nearby 15-acre La Paz property. Story poles were recently placed on the land to show the outline of the proposed 132,000-square-foot project.
The plan calls for 112,000 square feet of commercial and office development and a 20,000-square-foot City Hall, as well as 609 subterranean and surface parking spaces. The City Hall is part of a development agreement with the property owner.
The portion of the land near Civic Center Way would include seven buildings, five of which are single-story and two that are two stories. Ponds and wetland areas would connect the buildings. The upper section of the property would include four two-story buildings, with significant landscaping.
The City Hall would consist of three buildings, a 7,600-square-foot facility for the Environmental and Community Development, and Public Works departments. An 8,800-square-foot building would be used for the Parks and Recreation Department as well as administrative and clerical workers. A third, 3,700-square-foot facility would consist of a City Council Chamber.
There is an alternative for a reduced commercial project if the property owner does not build the City Hall.
An environmental impact report for the La Paz Development Agreement was released last fall. City Planner Stephanie Edmondson said this week that city officials are currently drafting a document of answers to the questions submitted by the public on the EIR. She said a revised EIR with those answers will be released soon, and the project could go before the Planning Commission by spring.