Santa Rosa: Infrastructure and Urban Planning

[ElDudarinodotcom]

Santa Rosa bike bridge could cost $20 million
By KEVIN McCALLUM
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

The projected costs of a pedestrian and bicycle bridge spanning Highway 101 between Santa Rosa Junior College and Coddingtown mall have soared to as much as $20 million, more than double original estimates.

The new projections may be a significant factor in the Santa Rosa City Council’s decision Tuesday night about whether to move forward with the project, long sought by the city’s cycling community.


A model of the proposed bicycle and pedestrian bridge over Highway 101

Councilman Gary Wysocky, an avid cyclist, said the project would be an important way to link the college, a key retail shopping area, and the likely future location of the northern Santa Rosa SMART rail station.

“A pedestrian and bicycle bridge connecting to a light rail station — you show me a greener project in America,” Wysocky said.

In 2009, when the city first held community meetings on the project, initial estimates ranged from $5 million to $9 million. The city then commissioned a just-completed feasibility study that put the numbers between $10 million and $14 million.

But a city staff report before the council Tuesday notes that the “full cost to deliver a complete bridge project could be closer to $20 million.”

That’s due to a number of “unknown costs” that could be associated with getting people to and from the bridge, such as bike and walking paths and signs, and higher potential construction costs if funding challenges delay the project further, according to the report.....

source and full article: http://www.watchsonomacounty.com/201...st-20-million/

[ElDudarinodotcom]

Santa Rosa bike bridge in peril after emotional vote

By Kevin McCallum
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Published: Tuesday, November 30, 2010 at 3:00 a.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, November 30, 2010 at 11:42 p.m.

The proposed bicycle and pedestrian bridge over Highway 101 may become the first project blown away by the changing political winds in Santa Rosa following a dramatic City Council meeting that put the plan in peril.

The possibility of losing a project dear to cycling advocates outraged Mayor Susan Gorin, who denounced her colleagues as shortsighted, and reduced Councilwoman Veronica Jacobi to tears.

“It’s painful that this wonderful project’s in jeopardy and I can’t do anything about it,” said Jacobi, who lost her reelection bid and was overcome with emotion Tuesday night as she read a series of resolutions aimed at pushing the planning process forward.

Technically, several measures backing the proposed span and authorizing additional studies passed on 5-2 votes Tuesday, which should have been cause for its advocates to celebrate. Councilmembers Jane Bender and Ernesto Olivares, who is likely to become the city’s next mayor, voted against it, citing concerns about the cost and timing.

But Councilman John Sawyer, who shared the concerns of Bender and Olivares, cast a vote for the project — and said he was only voting “yes” for the sole purpose of reconsidering his vote at next week’s meeting, when new council members take office.

By then, Sawyer and Olivares will have two new allies on the council, Jake Ours and Scott Bartley, and if the item was revisited, the group would have the votes to halt the proposed bicycle and pedestrian bridge....

source and full article: http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article...emotional-vote

[ElDudarinodotcom]

SMART planners select Guerneville Road site

By BOB NORBERG
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Commute rail planners settled on a new site for a northern Santa Rosa station that is closer to housing, government, schools and shopping and cheaper by $3 million than one in a previous plan.

The location on Guerneville Road east of the railroad tracks is about half a mile from Coddingtown Mall.

It will cost the rail agency $12.2 million to build the station and acquire needed property on Guerneville Road where two stores are located, Sonoma Kitchen & Bath and Kelly-Moore paints.

The location is a half mile north of the initial site near Jennings Avenue, which was a former railroad junction called a “wye” and was heavily contaminated. That site would have cost $3 million more, not counting possible environmental cleanup.

“This is the best site for the station,” said Debora Fudge, Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit chairwoman, on Wednesday. “It is better for buses and it gets us away from the contamination of the wye site.”


A map showing the two proposed locations of a SMART station in northern Santa Rosa

SMART planning manager John Nemeth said SMART could scale back the Guerneville station by more than half, saving $6.7 million, by acquiring just the Kitchen & Bath store and providing less parking in a first phase.

The savings could help SMART build a longer line for a first phase of construction, scheduled to be open in 2014.

SMART’s board on Nov. 6 adopted a controversial plan to begin service from Railroad Square in Santa Rosa to the Civic Center in San Rafael, instead of the 70-mile line from Cloverdale to Larkspur that had been envisioned.

The truncated line is necessitated by a $350 million gap in what district’s sales tax, depressed by the economy, can raise and what the 70-mile line is estimated to cost.

However, SMART officials hope to go out to bid early next year to take advantage of the economic downturn’s affect on construction, which has caused bids on highway and other public works projects to come in 20 to 30 percent below estimates.

The hope is lower bids could allow SMART to open an initial line that goes to Guerneville Road or Windsor to the north and downtown San Rafael to the south.

“In the near term, we would continue to do station design work, but not buy property until a formal decision to extend the line,” Nemeth said.

The cost of extending the line 2.5 miles from Railroad Square to the Guerneville Road site is estimated to cost $24 million, half of which is for the station.

The Guerneville Road site is preferable because it is closer to the Sonoma County Administration Center, Santa Rosa Junior College, Coddingtown Mall, bus service, businesses and homes than the Jennings site, according to Nemeth’s report.

Codding Enterprises, which co-owns Coddingtown Mall with Simon Properties, paid $40,000 for the study.

The study does not take into account proximity to a bicycle and pedestrian bridge Santa Rosa was planning to build over Highway 101 from near Coddingtown to the Santa Rosa Junior College.

The new station site is slightly farther away from the proposed bridge, which is now mired in controversy at the Santa Rosa City Council.

SMART’s real estate committee Wednesday approved amending the environmental impact report for the Guerneville Road site. It will go to the full board Dec. 15.

source: http://www.watchsonomacounty.com/201...lle-road-site/

[ElDudarinodotcom]

AT&T building developer gets access through transit mall

By Kevin McCallum
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Published: Tuesday, December 14, 2010 at 3:00 a.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, December 14, 2010 at 11:35 p.m.

The Santa Rosa City Council gave a tentative green light to a developer who wants future residents of his downtown high-rise to be able to drive on a street now restricted to bus traffic.

On a 6-0 vote, the council instructed city staff to continue working with Hugh Futrell to find a way that future residents of Museum on the Square project will be able to safely access the building through the city transit mall on Second Street.

Futrell said the proposal will increase the leasable space by avoiding putting a driveway through the ground floor of the building.

City traffic officials had objected to Futrell's request, citing the possible interference with city buses and safety concerns for pedestrians.

But after hearing a presentation from an independent traffic engineer who said it could be done safely, council members said they thought the project was important enough to give it a try.

“There's lot of way to make this thing work,” Councilman Scott Bartley said.

Museum on the Square is a city redevelopment project that proposes to transform the monolithic former AT&T building downtown into a 10-story glass tower with a museum and restaurant on the first floor and office and residential units above.

The project promises to create 261 short-term construction jobs, 523 long-term jobs and $68 million in annual economic activity.

“I think it's important that we start working these things through and try to get this project moving forward,” Mayor Ernesto Olivares said.

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article...h-transit-mall

[ElDudarinodotcom]

Santa Rosa eyes new downtown courthouse

By Kevin McCallum
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

It's a little late in the game, but Santa Rosa is still hoping the state can be convinced to build a new $180 million criminal courthouse downtown.

State judicial officials last year rejected the idea of constructing the courthouse on the site of the downtown post office on Second Street after concluding it couldn't be done quickly enough.

That left only one other site under active consideration, a spot beside the existing Hall of Justice in the Sonoma County administration complex.

But Santa Rosa City Manager Kathy Millison wants to make sure the city has fully explored whether a downtown site could meet the state's needs. She set up a three-member City Council subcommittee last week to look into the issue.

“For us, it's a long shot, but I really didn't want to pass up the opportunity if there was any interest,” Millison said.

Council members Jake Ours, John Sawyer and Susan Gorin agreed to sit on the committee.

After checking with state officials about the progress of negotiations with the county, Millison said she learned the state still was interested in entertaining a downtown proposal, if one were made quickly.

The state has been working with the county for more than a year and expects to make a decision on a site soon.

“The window is slightly open for someone to give us a proposal that we cannot refuse,” said Jose Guillen, executive officer for Sonoma County Superior Court.

The existing Hall of Justice was built in 1966 two miles north of downtown after the old courthouse in the heart of the city was deemed seismically unsafe. A 2008 state feasibility report described the current courthouse as crowded and unsafe.

The state has been negotiating with the county over the possible sale of a 4.6-acre site beside the existing courthouse and jail where it would construct a six-story criminal courthouse housing 15 courtrooms.

The proximity to the jail, district attorney's office, and other public services makes the location the logical choice for the new courthouse, said Jose Obregon, Sonoma County's general services manager. The court doesn't stand alone, but rather is “one component of a multicomponent system,” he said.

“I feel confident that the state and the county are moving in the direction of making the new courthouse a reality here,” Obregon said. He said state officials told him they consider the county site the “preferred” site.

But the negotiations have dragged on longer than anyone expected, and parking has been “one of the issues that we've been struggling with in terms of the county site,” said court spokeswoman Teresa Ruano.

A 173,000-square-foot courthouse will require 450 parking spaces, according to the 2008 report. Determining whether the downtown has a location that could meet such requirements will be the subcommittee's charge, Millison said.

The city owns two parking lots on the east side of Highway 101 that might fit the bill, including a 1.3-acre lot between the library and the post office, known as the White House site. A second possibility is a lot at Ross and B streets across from Macy's, Millison said.

The size of the lots will be a key issue. An ideal site, according to the 2008 study, would be 6.5 acres, one acre for the building and five for parking.

Since the state rejected the post office site, it has identified another potential site on North Point Parkway, a business park in the southwest part of the city, Guillen said.

Some feel having the courthouse downtown would provide a host of benefits for the city's civic and cultural life.

Bankruptcy attorney Richard Koman noted that most of the city's attorneys work downtown, and going out to the county center isn't a great experience for them. The current courthouse is a “horrible Soviet-style hulk,” parking is “a mess,” and there are few services there, he said.

“There isn't any vibrancy at all at the county center,” Koman said.

For a city split by a highway and mall and struggling to keep its downtown vital, a new courthouse can only help, he said.

“I just think a courthouse and everything that happens around that could be an anchor for revitalization downtown,” Koman said.

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article...19597&tc=yahoo

[ElDudarinodotcom]

Race to redevelop Roseland

By MARTIN ESPINOZA & Kevin McCallum
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Sonoma County is on the verge of owning a Roseland eyesore that redevelopment officials hope to transform into a neighborhood center that would become the pride of southwest Santa Rosa.

But an ominous cloud has settled over the future of the dilapidated Albertsons shopping center on Sebastopol Avenue.

As part of the state's budget proposal, Gov. Jerry Brown has threatened to effectively end the six-decade era of subsidized redevelopment.

Cities around the state are scrambling to understand the implications of the governor's move and react accordingly. Some are looking to spend the money they have as quickly as possible.

On Feb. 28, escrow closes on a portion of the old Albertsons center, which the county redevelopment agency is prepared to purchase for up to $3.75 million.

“Is it better to let the $3.7 million go back to the state of California?” said John Haig, redevelopment manager for the county Community Development Commission.

“I think the best think to do is to purchase the property and prepare for development ... We don't want to take our foot off the gas pedal for this important project.”

Santa Rosa City Manager Kathy Millison told the city council last week that she and others were looking into the matter with an eye toward whether some projects could be advanced to a stage where the state would be unable to “pull the carpet out from under” them.

“It's very serious and could affect us in many different ways,” Santa Rosa City Councilman Jake Ours said.

The governor is forbidding redevelopment agencies across the state from incurring new debt, crippling future projects.

The proposed Roseland Village would transform the vacant Albertsons grocery store and surrounding buildings into a mixed-use neighborhood center with affordable housing, commercial retail and a plaza.

The site is within the Roseland Redevelopment Project, one of three redevelopment areas in the unincorporated county. The others are The Springs, near Sonoma, and the Russian River.

The county redevelopment agency already has spent “hundreds of thousands of dollars” on preliminary planning and testing for contaminants near the former bowling alley, the main parking lot, a former dry cleaning business and beneath the grocery store's concrete slab, Haig said.

The agency has an exclusive negotiating agreement with the owner of the property, the Baugh Family of Southern California.

Even before the governor's budget proposal was outlined, the agency had been trying to expedite Roseland Village, as well as Highway 12 improvements in the Springs, he said.

In Sonoma County, where all nine cities and the county operate such agencies, redevelopment funds have been used to rebuild Old Courthouse Square following the 1969 earthquake, for sewer line upgrades and affordable housing in Rohnert Park and Highway 12 improvements in Sonoma.

A redevelopment area allows a city or county to use increased property tax revenue generated within the area to finance improvements.

Under normal circumstances when property values rise, all taxing agencies receive a proportionate share of the revenue. Under redevelopment, nearly all of the increase goes to the redevelopment agency.

Dave Gouin, Santa Rosa's director of economic development and housing, said he and his staff are reviewing various projects to see if there are ways the agency can “move faster to get into contract so we can keep that resource here in the community rather than turn it in to the state.”

The governor's proposed budget calls on redevelopment agencies to “cease the creation of new obligations,” but the governor's budget isn't passed yet, Gouin said.

If there are budgeted projects like graffiti abatement or improving traffic circulation around Coddingtown that can progress to the contract stage, that may prevent the state from grabbing the money, Gouin said.

How long the agencies will have is unclear. Gouin said he's heard talk of the legislature passing a law preventing new obligations as early as next month.

In his budget summary, Gov. Brown says redevelopment agencies have “gradually shifted property tax away from schools, counties, special districts, and city general purposes.”

The summary argues that some redevelopment agencies have sat on funds intended for affordable housing, and that the agencies often subsidize private development that “would have occurred even if the (redevelopment agencies) were never established.”

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article...2/0/sports0908

[ElDudarinodotcom]

City rushes $2.2M redevelopment for Coddingtown
Santa Rosa races to fund upgrade for aging mall before money dries up

By Kevin McCallum
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Santa Rosa's redevelopment agency is racing to approve a $2.2 million low-interest loan to the nation's largest mall owner, Simon Property Group, in hopes of boosting the fortunes of the aging Coddingtown mall.

City staffers, who have been working on the deal with mall representatives for about two months, accelerated the loan approval in an effort to spend the money before Gov. Jerry Brown diverts it to bail out the cash-strapped state, said David Gouin, the city's director of economic development and housing.

The goal of the loan is to jumpstart upgrades needed to draw new tenants to the struggling 1960s era mall, including a brewery and restaurant interested in opening in the former Narsi's Hofbrau space. It would also give the mall's corporate owners an incentive to boost their own investment in the property.

“We're trying to stimulate the reuse of an underutilized retail asset in a recessionary economy,” Gouin said.

The proposal may anger redevelopment critics who for years have questioned whether taxpayers should make loans to Fortune 500 corporations. The Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group had a total market value of $56 billion in 2009, and earned profits of $309 million.

The company owns the downtown Santa Rosa Plaza and Petaluma Outlets, and bought a 50 percent stake in Coddingtown in 2005. Simon has made no secret of its interest in tapping public dollars raised from the sprawling Gateways redevelopment district, which covers 1,335 acres of the city's urban areas, including Coddingtown....

full article: http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article...-redevelopment

[ElDudarinodotcom]

It's cool they are planning on opening a BJ's. Good beer, decent food, good atmosphere.

Coddingtown gets $2.2M to 'regain the glory'
Santa Rosa redevelopment money will go for upgrades to attract tenants

By Kevin McCallum
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Santa Rosa's development agency agreed Monday to give the owners of Coddingtown mall a $2.2 million low-interest loan to help them pay for utility upgrades needed to attract new tenants.

Codding Enterprises CEO Brad Baker told the agency it wasn't that long ago that the mall was an economic powerhouse with 100 percent occupancy and shoppers from around the region. Today, despite the arrival of a new Whole Foods Market, the mall struggles with a 40 percent vacancy rate, he said.

“We're trying to become that regional spot again and regain some of that glory that we once enjoyed,” Baker told the redevelopment agency board.

Baker said his firm, and its partner Simon Property Group, would use the money to attract the kind of high-volume tenants that will not only boost the mall's fortunes but the city's revenues through higher sales taxes.

Getting such a loan from a bank is challenging, Baker said, because many of the upgrades the 1960's era mall needs – including new sewer, water and electrical upgrades needed by high-volume tenants – involve the mall's core utility capacity, costs that can't be recouped through individual tenant leases.

Chairman Bill Arnone and others praised the loan as “creative” and serving the precise function redevelopment agencies are supposed to, namely filling a funding gap needed to get a project off the ground.

Board member Charles Evans said that since Gov. Jerry Brown has taken aim at redevelopment agencies, the media has stressed the wealth of some corporate recipients of redevelopment dollars.

“But part of the purpose here is to get them to spend their money on you, and this is how you go about it,” Evans said.

Alice Miller, redevelopment specialist for the city, explained that in exchange for the 12-year, 3 percent loan, the city would get an easement allowing it to expand a bus stop on Range Avenue, eliminating a dangerous arrangement that requires busses to turn around in a parking lot.

The loan's repayment is structured to allow some of the principal and interest to be repaid through an anticipated increase in property tax.

The theory is that the loan will create a strong incentive for the owners to aggressively upgrade and find new tenants for the mall.

“We wanted to provide them the incentive. The more they put in, the more the (loan) obligation goes down,” said Tim Kelly, president of the consulting firm Keyser Marston Associates.

It's unclear just how much Codding and Simon plan to invest. Baker said plans to bring in a single new eatery, BJ's Brewhouse Restaurant, are likely to cost $2.2 million in upgrades alone.

He said he would eventually like to see more than a dozen new retailers at the mall.

Some board members urged caution.

The note is to be secured with a personal guarantee, but board member Phil Olsen wondered if that was sufficient security. There are news reports all the time about such malls not making it, he said.

“It may be chump change to Simon, but $2.2 million is a lot of money to this redevelopment agency, and there ought to be some kind of security in that note,” Olsen said.

Baker acknowledged that the agency's loan would be in second position behind a $27 million loan to Bank of America, but assured the board that sufficient equity exists. He noted that the loan payoff assumed the mall's value at $65 million.

“We think this could lay the groundwork of the redevelopment of that whole area,” Baker said.

The loan is subject to confirmation by the Santa Rosa City Council that it meets the goals of the Gateways redevelopment district, said David Gouin, the city's economic development director.

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article...ain-the-glory-

[ElDudarinodotcom]

Santa Rosa gets ready for a makeover

By Kevin McCallum
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

The large orange planter pots that line downtown Santa Rosa sidewalks will be removed under a makeover plan approved by the city.

Santa Rosa Mayor Ernesto Olivares praised the plan to remove many planters, install bollards and establish consistent design themes for everything from street lights and garbage cans to benches and bike racks.

“I think this is an exciting plan. It’s almost like a complete makeover for the entire Railroad Square and downtown area,” Olivares said.

The idea is to update the urban streetscape to better reflect the downtown today, which has more restaurants and bars and pedestrian activity than it has in the past, said Raissa De La Rosa, an economic development specialist for the city....

full article: http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article...for-a-makeover

[lizayuen]

Interesting idea and the pictures really look great and i know the project is amazing.

[jchernin]

sonoma county was just listed one of the top ten best places to live on the west coast by sunset magazine!

Sonoma County: Dine 5-star. Live in Sonoma County and you may start to take things for granted. You might think rack of lamb is always grilled on an authentic Argentine parrilla, as it is at Francis Ford Coppola's winery in Geyserville. That any class called "The Art of Wood-Fired Cooking" would naturally be taught by Andrea Mugnaini, an authority on Old World open-hearth ovens (her oven company has a Healdsburg cooking school). That every pizza joint offers house-cured lardo as a topping (Diavola Pizzeria in Geyserville). That your Sazerac should be poured by the guy who literally wrote the book on artisanal cocktails (Scott Beattie at Healdsburg's Spoonbar). Which is to say, you just might get a little spoiled. Runners-up: Napa County; Vancouver, B.C.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object...0502986916.jpg

[ElDudarinodotcom]

Big dreams for Sonoma County equestrian center

By BRETT WILKISON
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Horse enthusiasts with big dreams are moving forward with their idea to build a $200 million everything-under-the-sun equestrian event center on ranch land in southern Sonoma County.

The sprawling project, on 250 acres of rolling pasture on a 1,200-acre spread west of Cotati, would be a world-class venue intended to attract national and international competitions, supporters say.

The grandness of the vision is matched by the hurdles that must be overcome, not the least of which are financial, environmental and governmental. Yet the promoters seem undeterred.

It would be an economic engine for the area and would restore Sonoma County to what they say is its rightful place at the center of the horse world. Twice in the past two centuries the county has held that honor, they said, but access to local venues and support for equestrian sports has withered in recent decades.

“Everything ‘horse' starts here,” said Karl Bastian, a leading promoter and past president of the Sonoma County Horse Council. Studies have shown that the horse industry, including boarding, training and other business, has been one of the county's top farm sectors, he said. “It's going to happen again.”

Versions of the idea have been passed around in horse circles for years. The latest package has drawn interest from a group of ranching families whose properties occupy much of the land between Meacham and Roblar roads north of the county's central landfill.

The list of facilities envisioned for that land is lofty.

Up to 17 outdoor show arenas, polo fields, an exercise track, museum, restaurants, shops, a conference and equine surgical center and campgrounds would occupy the developed area. It would be anchored by a “coliseum,” a covered stadium of still undetermined size.

The campus would support up to 80 full-time jobs and generate between $65 million and $250 million annually in business and taxes for the county, supporters said. They based those numbers on figures associated with other equestrian centers such as the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, which is about the same size...

Full Article: http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article...CLES/110319776

[jchernin]

let's see if they can raise the money...

[ElDudarinodotcom]

Santa Rosa Plaza wants to charge for parking

By KEVIN McCALLUM
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Published: Thursday, March 17, 2011 at 3:25 p.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, March 17, 2011 at 3:25 p.m.

After nearly 30 years providing free parking, the Santa Rosa Plaza mall wants people to pay for the privilege.

The mall owner, Simon Property Group, has asked the city to allow it to begin charging for parking as a way to free up more spaces for its shoppers.

The mall estimates that 15 to 20 percent of its 3,000 parking spaces are filled by 9 a.m. on weekdays by employees of other downtown businesses taking advantage of the free parking. Many occupy prime first-floor parking spaces all day, said mall manager Laura Kozup...

full article: http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article...ge-for-parking

Personally I think that the mall has too much parking. There have always been plenty of spaces open, just not on the first floor. I don't have a problem with them charging for parking, but they should get rid of at least one garage. The northernmost garage should be given up for redevelopment; leaving only the garages behind the mall left. That garage is always empty anyways, and it fronts B street. Removing the garage would also allow the expansion of 6th street to make it a full two lane road connecting downtown to railroad square.

[jchernin]

^ for that matter, let's just tear it all down and start over shall we?

seriously though i'm ok with charging as long as the pricing is reasonable

[ElDudarinodotcom]

Well yeah...that would work too. In other mall news...

Coddingtown Mall previews new look

By CATHY BUSSEWITZ
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Published: Friday, March 18, 2011 at 3:50 p.m.
Last Modified: Friday, March 18, 2011 at 3:50 p.m.

In fashion, it's all about image. And Coddingtown Mall in Santa Rosa is working on its makeover.

The mall's plans, which will need approval by the city, include opening a brewhouse, building two new entryways and renovating the historic Coddingtown sign with new paint and more efficient lighting.

BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse, a chain based in Huntington Beach, is negotiating the terms of a lease with the mall, said Lois Codding, vice president of Codding Enterprises. If finalized, the restaurant will open in 2012 on the mall's north side, she said.

“We're very close, but it's not finalized yet,” Codding said. “They've had an interest in Santa Rosa for a while now.”

Plans are also in the works to demolish and rebuild the mall's main entrance facing Guerneville Road and to build a taller entryway facade on the east side of the complex facing Highway 101.

Representatives of the mall's owners, Codding Enterprises and Simon Property Group, presented outlines of the makeover plan Thursday to the city's Design Review Board, which will review more detailed plans later before approving the project.

“I think the board's excited about what they're seeing,” said Ken MacNab, chairman of the panel. “It's a mall that needs to be updated, and I think everyone including Coddingtown and Simon sees that, and I think they're making the right moves.”

Members of the board asked Simon representatives to bring more information about how the proposed changes would work together for a cohesive new look for the mall.

Laura Kozup, area mall manager for Simon, said in an interview that the mall is planning a kick-off event in mid-April and aims to complete the renovations by mid-November.

“We're still in the early stages,” Kozup said. “We have a lot of work to do.”

Kozup said the mall is planning to restore the wooden rafter beams, upgrade restrooms and build a play area for children. Kozup said many retailers have expressed interest in filling the empty spaces in the mall, but she said it was too early to discuss details.

Ben Stone, executive director of the county Economic Development Board, said the world has changed since Coddingtown was built in the early 1960s, with the arrival of big-box stores, the growth of the region's population and the popularity of online and catalog shopping.

“What people are looking for now in retail, I think, is experience,” Stone said.

Jennifer Harrison, 45, was on her way to Shutterbug in Coddingtown Mall on Thursday. She said she'd love to see a Nordstrom's, Cheesecake Factory or Pottery Barn open in the mall.

“I know they're always talking about bringing them here, but it hasn't come to fruition,” she said.

Joni Silver, 80, was drawn on Thursday to shop at the Hallmark Store and Whole Foods.

“It's really sad in here, all the empty stores,” Silver said. “And I really love this mall.”

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article...views-new-look

[ElDudarinodotcom]

$12 million boost given to SSU’s Green Music Center

By GUY KOVNER
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Philanthropists Joan and Sandy Weill are donating $12 million to Sonoma State University for completion of the Green Music Center, the university announced Tuesday.

Described as the largest single cash gift in SSU’s history, the donation ensures a fall 2012 opening of the center, with its 1,400-seat Tanglewood-style concert hall named after the Weills...

...The Weills’ gift will make possible completion of the concert hall, which held its first public event in October, as well as two other performance venues.

The south end of Weill Hall features a back wall that can be opened to a terraced lawn, accommodating an additional 3,000 guests.

Weill Commons, an area directly east of the main concert hall, will become a 10,000-seat amphitheater for large outdoor events.

The Weills’ $12 million gift includes $4 million for completion of the 14,000-square-foot concert hall, which will be home to the Santa Rosa Symphony, $4 million for landscaping the outdoor facilities and another $4 million for the landscaping in the form of a challenge grant to be matched by other donors....

Full Article: http://rohnertpark.towns.pressdemocr...-music-center/

This is the first that I have heard of the outdoor amphitheater. It would be really cool if they were planning on making it into a large concert venue.

[jchernin]

Originally Posted by ElDudarinodotcom

Full Article: http://rohnertpark.towns.pressdemocr...-music-center/

This is the first that I have heard of the outdoor amphitheater. It would be really cool if they were planning on making it into a large concert venue.

the building has large 'shed' doors that open to a landscaped area where people can sit. i'm pretty sure that's what they mean by 'amphitheater':

"the modular, lower rear wall opens fully, extending the concert hall experience to the outdoor audience."

source (pg 6): http://www.flipdocs.com/scripts/show...0003415_480514

the last page has a good picture.

[ElDudarinodotcom]

Yeah, the article mentions that. "The south end of Weill Hall features a back wall that can be opened to a terraced lawn, accommodating an additional 3,000 guests" but it also says, "Weill Commons, an area directly east of the main concert hall, will become a 10,000-seat amphitheater for large outdoor events." The picture at the end of your link shows the terraced lawn, but the amphitheater is supposedly in the area east of this which you can see below is a large open area.



http://princesshaiku.blogspot.com/20...at-sonoma.html

[jchernin]

well, i haven't heard of any amphitheater 'structure'. if it's going to fit 10000 people then i have a feeling it's just going to be the sloped lawn in the site plan you posted. there is no way that the project can be this far along and for them not to have planned a structure that will fit 10000 people.

besides, financially there are still many other priorities:

"The 4,500-square foot Schroeder recital hall, which is $6 million short of completion, is not included in the Weills’ gift."