[usedmedia]

According to the Mercury News, the Irvine Co. is moving ahead with their Bowers/101 speculative commercial office project, with some ground floor retail. It also appears they downsized the square footage, from 2 million sqft to 1.2 million. They also reduced the size of the buildings, from a row of 14 story structures to two clusters of 6-8 story buildings built in two phases. You can see an old rending of the project here.

To me, it looks like Irvine is cloning their other speculative office project on Great America and 237. That one has been wildly successful so I suppose they are sticking with what works.



Article:
http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_24663776/huge-new-office-research-and-retail-complex-planned

 

[usedmedia]

I thought this was a cool video someone made of Levi's Stadium.

 

[pesto]

According to the Mercury News, the Irvine Co. is moving ahead with their Bowers/101 speculative commercial office project, with some ground floor retail. It also appears they downsized the square footage, from 2 million sqft to 1.2 million. They also reduced the size of the buildings, from a row of 14 story structures to two clusters of 6-8 story buildings built in two phases. You can see an old rending of the project here.

To me, it looks like Irvine is cloning their other speculative office project on Great America and 237. That one has been wildly successful so I suppose they are sticking with what works.



Article:
http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_24663776/huge-new-office-research-and-retail-complex-planned

Unbelievable the amount of office space being proposed. This one sounds a little peculiar. Build in phases and complete it in 2015? It'll be 2014 in about 2 weeks so they've got 2 years to build multiple phases?

Cutting from 14 stories to 6-8 makes sense in my view. I've never seen much demand for taller than that.

It's not really that close to Levi's Field so I'm not sure why that is even mentioned. The Joe Montana project near Levi's is mostly hotel and residential so they won't compete much, but the huge projects proposed by Related will bring a lot more office on-line in SC. Plus the North SJ projects.

 

[usedmedia]

The proposed Pacific Mall & Hotel at McCarthy Ranch is coming up for approval before the Milpitas planning commission next week. Key points:

• The new owners of McCarthy Ranch will be copying the format of their Pacific Mall in Toronto (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Mall).
• A good chunk of the existing big-box stores will be torn down, including the old Borders, Best Buy, etc.
• There will be between 400-500 condo stalls that retailers can purchase.
• The mall portion will be two stories, with a variety of shops and services. There will also be full-service restaurants and an "entertainment area" for performances on the 2nd floor.
• There will be one level of underground parking.
• The developers will be asking that the hotel portion be phased, as they line up financing and a hotel operator.

Some new renders:

 

[pesto]

Sticking a walled fortress in the middle of limitless parking lots? Totally unacceptable and inappropriate for the California climate and for even a trace of urban development.

I also note that they don't really plan to build a hotel; just talk about one. So remove the highrise and just picture a huge, ugly warehouse with thousands of parking spaces.

A very odd move in an area that is showing very large demand for apartments and forming at least the beginnings of integrated housing, retail and office within walking distance (N. First, the Santa Clara proposals).

(Yeah, I know, it stinks around here so they can't build housing, but it's OK for thousands of stall owners and hundreds of thousands of shoppers and hotel guests).

 

[robertee]

Sticking a walled fortress in the middle of limitless parking lots? Totally unacceptable and inappropriate for the California climate and for even a trace of urban development.

I also note that they don't really plan to build a hotel; just talk about one. So remove the highrise and just picture a huge, ugly warehouse with thousands of parking spaces.

Eh....it's really not that bad. This is replacing about 4 or 5 empty big box stores and the giant parking lots are already there.

A very odd move in an area that is showing very large demand for apartments and forming at least the beginnings of integrated housing, retail and office within walking distance (N. First, the Santa Clara proposals).

Nothing is within walking distance from McCarthy Ranch except the corporate campuses nearby. It has pretty bad transit connections too: it's only served by a local bus and the nearest LRT station is 1.5 miles away (with no bus connection to MR). Most of the development activity in Milpitas is happening along Great Mall Pwy/Capitol Ave and Montague Expressway (adjacent to LRT and BART).

 

[pesto]

Eh....it's really not that bad. This is replacing about 4 or 5 empty big box stores and the giant parking lots are already there.



Nothing is within walking distance from McCarthy Ranch except the corporate campuses nearby. It has pretty bad transit connections too: it's only served by a local bus and the nearest LRT station is 1.5 miles away (with no bus connection to MR). Most of the development activity in Milpitas is happening along Great Mall Pwy/Capitol Ave and Montague Expressway (adjacent to LRT and BART).

Nor ever will be.

Your argument can be made about pretty much any large open area. You do understand that nothing was within walking distance of Times Sq. until someone built it? And it wasn't a warehouse and 20 acres of parking.

 

[espressophile]

So remove the highrise and just picture a huge, ugly warehouse with thousands of parking spaces.

The highrise obviously helps, but it actually looks pretty cool.

 

[surrill]

Kinda looks like an airport terminal

 

[pesto]

http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_24872622/transformation-north-san-jose-into-urban-tech-hub

Nothing real new. The focus is on North SJ, but it talks about how the whole county is going after the prizes and trying to avoid the problems of new development.

 

[Xynoplas]

Sticking a walled fortress in the middle of limitless parking lots? Totally unacceptable and inappropriate for the California climate and for even a trace of urban development.

I also note that they don't really plan to build a hotel; just talk about one. So remove the highrise and just picture a huge, ugly warehouse with thousands of parking spaces.

A very odd move in an area that is showing very large demand for apartments and forming at least the beginnings of integrated housing, retail and office within walking distance (N. First, the Santa Clara proposals).

(Yeah, I know, it stinks around here so they can't build housing, but it's OK for thousands of stall owners and hundreds of thousands of shoppers and hotel guests).

I agree that it doesn't have to be enclosed. This isn't Minnesota.
One current trend is toward a faux-downtown, along the lines of Santana Row.

 

[Cal_Escapee]

Approved by Planning Commission

Milpitas: Developers plan $100 million Asian-themed mall
By George Avalos
Oakland Tribune
POSTED: 01/13/2014 06:05:45 AM PST | UPDATED: ABOUT 8 HOURS AGO

A rendering shows the proposed Asian-themed Pacific Mall Silicon Valley to be built on the McCarthy Ranch property in Milpitas, Calif. (Steinberg Associates) ( Steinberg Architects )

MILPITAS -- A big enclosed Asian-themed shopping center is planned for a portion of the prominent McCarthy Ranch Marketplace here, a project that would bring hundreds of small merchants to the retail complex and construct a new hotel in the South Bay city, developers said Friday.

The $100 million project would create a 260,000-square-foot Asian retail center with potentially hundreds of small shops in the enclosed shopping complex, a 240-room hotel, and an underground parking garage for about 820 vehicles.

"It would be the only project of its kind in the United States -- a large enclosed Asian-themed mall," said Jim Kessler, a development adviser for Canada-based Torgan Group, the owner of the McCarthy Ranch retail complex. "There are other Asian-oriented tenant projects, but not of this scope and concept, with small units, a lot of owners."

McCarthy Ranch
Whereas most malls have a single corporate owner, with some exceptions for flagship stores, the new Milpitas mall will sell spaces for shops much the way residential developers sell condominiums. Some merchants will buy their own spaces, while others will lease them from realty investors.

Scheduled to open in 2017, the center will be named Pacific Mall Silicon Valley. It is expected to have 200 to 300 stores offering everything from clothing and consumer electronics to health food and cosmetics. The multilevel facility also will have a food court . . . .

The mall is modeled on the Pacific Mall in Toronto, which Torgan Group developed. The backers hope it will become a major regional draw for the Bay Area and Northern California . . . .

Milpitas officials believe the new complex could be a game-changer for the city . . . .

The Milpitas Planning Commission approved the project this week and the City Council will consider the matter within the next several weeks. If all goes well, the developers intend to begin construction in the spring of 2015, Kessler said . . . .

http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_24897244/milpitas-developers-plan-100m-asian-themed-mall

 

[pesto]

This was already discussed at some length up above. Can't say I've changed my mind that it is a disaster at pretty much every level. Makes the North SJ developments look like midtown Manhattan by comparison.

 

[Cal_Escapee]

I suppose the reason the Mercury News published about it yesterday was the approval by the Planning Commission.

But while I'll let those of you who have to look at it judge the architecture, I think having a venue with a hundred or more small Asian merchants in the community is a big plus. I visit Japan Center mall (in you know where) a lot and would miss not having it.

 

[usedmedia]

This was already discussed at some length up above. Can't say I've changed my mind that it is a disaster at pretty much every level. Makes the North SJ developments look like midtown Manhattan by comparison.

In my opinion, I think this project as proposed makes a lot of sense at this location. Sure, I suppose I would love to see a Santana Row-like development as much as the next guy, but that's never happening here.

If this project gets built out as proposed, I believe it will become a big regional draw for the area since it's a unique concept for the area. Again, this is just my opinion.

 

[cardinal2007]

I suppose the reason the Mercury News published about it yesterday was the approval by the Planning Commission.

But while I'll let those of you who have to look at it judge the architecture, I think having a venue with a hundred or more small Asian merchants in the community is a big plus. I visit Japan Center mall (in you know where) a lot and would miss not having it.

Do you think you'll ever go there? I go to Japantown on occasion, and there are many Asian stores in Cupertino (though I may be ignorant and they are only Chinese), Milpitas is out of the way, I never go to the Great Mall either. But then again I am not a huge fan of indoor malls.

Cupertino Village is an outdoor venue for example.

 

[Cal_Escapee]

Do you think you'll ever go there? I go to Japantown on occasion, and there are many Asian stores in Cupertino (though I may be ignorant and they are only Chinese), Milpitas is out of the way, I never go to the Great Mall either. But then again I am not a huge fan of indoor malls.

Cupertino Village is an outdoor venue for example.

I don't have a car in SF. I do belong to Zipcar and sometimes use one of their cars for trips to places like this (recently got my watch fixed at a jeweler in Burlingame for instance). But given the number of Asian businesses in SF, I probably won't go there UNLESS it's walkable from BART. I have not explored whether that will be the case. But if it is, then possibly. I sometimes take BART to movies in Berkeley and even Orinda (both stations are near the theaters). And I like just riding BART.

 

[robertee]

Do you think you'll ever go there? I go to Japantown on occasion, and there are many Asian stores in Cupertino (though I may be ignorant and they are only Chinese), Milpitas is out of the way, I never go to the Great Mall either. But then again I am not a huge fan of indoor malls.

Cupertino Village is an outdoor venue for example.

There's already very successful destination-type Asian shopping center in the McCarthy Ranch area called Milpitas Square. Since Pacific Mall will be aiming for a similar clientele (just on a larger scale), I suspect it will be a hit.

I don't have a car in SF. I do belong to Zipcar and sometimes use one of their cars for trips to places like this (recently got my watch fixed at a jeweler in Burlingame for instance). But given the number of Asian businesses in SF, I probably won't go there UNLESS it's walkable from BART. I have not explored whether that will be the case. But if it is, then possibly. I sometimes take BART to movies in Berkeley and even Orinda (both stations are near the theaters). And I like just riding BART.

Transit connections aren't the best. It's currently about a 20 minute bus ride (the actual distance is much shorter, but it does a loop around Milpitas) from where the BART station will be or a ~1.2 mile walk from the nearest LRT station. This will probably change by the time the Milpitas BART station opens (2017) though, as the VTA will be adding/reshuffling lines.

 

[pesto]

I don't doubt it will he a hit. But think about it: and access-controlled, roofed-in, 100 percent Asian shopping mall with acre upon acre of parking lots. A ghetto in the classic sense. How does this help urbanity, transit, street-life, or for that matter acculturation?

Jtown Center is not good for pedestrian flow but at least it is open, walkable, in the middle of a big city and with underground parking. As I said, even NSJ a mile away has put hotel, office, thousands of units of housing and outdoor malls within walking distance of each other and near VTA. Far from an urban ideal, but Milpitas isn't even trying.

 

[usedmedia]

I don't doubt it will he a hit. But think about it: and access-controlled, roofed-in, 100 percent Asian shopping mall with acre upon acre of parking lots. A ghetto in the classic sense. How does this help urbanity, transit, street-life, or for that matter acculturation?

It's cool, we can agree to disagree.

Developers and the city of Milpitas (via their current zoning) think that the McCarthy Ranch area isn't a good fit for mixed-use or residential, due to it being hemmed in by two freeways to the immediate south and east (plus a large freeway interchange), a smelly sewage treatment plant to the west that it's downwind from, and bay tidal marsh and a large dump to the north.

Is SJ building anything at all in the immediate vicinity of the sewage treatment plant?

Jtown Center is not good for pedestrian flow but at least it is open, walkable, in the middle of a big city and with underground parking. As I said, even NSJ a mile away has put hotel, office, thousands of units of housing and outdoor malls within walking distance of each other and near VTA. Far from an urban ideal, but Milpitas isn't even trying.

You are absolutely right, there is lots of mixed-use being built in north SJ near VTA. The exact same thing is also happening in Milpitas, near VTA and the future BART station. Thousands of residential units are currently under construction or are in the immediate pipeline. By late 2017 or early 2018 thousands of people will be living in the Great Mall TOD. They will be within a short walk of restaurants, shopping, groceries, VTA, and BART.

Realistically, Milpitas is a small suburb in a mostly suburban county. There are only 3 light-rail stops within city borders, and it's doing its best to maximize their use. Overall, I think the city is doing a pretty good job encouraging mixed-use and denser developments. Of course it could always be doing better, which is why we all care and are on this forum discussing this.

It's totally fine to have your own opinions, but saying things like Milpitas isn't even trying, or calling this new mall a "disaster at pretty much every level", "ghetto", or a "walled fortress" seems somewhat disingenuous to me. If this is what you really think and feel then I suppose that's ok. Just understand that many residents around here enjoy going to indoor malls/markets and ethnic shopping centers. Valley Fair and Oakridge are still popular.

At the end of the day, a proven developer is going to be investing $100 million to revitalize a slowly dying, outdated, agriculturally-themed retail power center. And I'm ok with that.