A privately owned downtown parking lot with 50 spaces could
become the new home for a two-story, mixed-use project in two
years.
A privately owned downtown parking lot with 50 spaces could become the new home for a two-story, mixed-use project in two years.
Manou Mobedshahi, who now lives in Morgan Hill, owns the Downtown Mall and has a long-term lease on the Granada Theater building. He is trying to build 18 market-rate rental apartments, office and retail units in the parking lot behind those buildings between East First and East Second streets.
Mobedshahi, a relative newcomer to Morgan Hill, has a proven track record for such projects.
Parking for residents, tenants and, possibly, customers would continue at ground level. Some retail space would be located on the ground floor also, reflecting the wishes of the City Council and the Downtown Plan. Office and residential spaces would take up the second level with courtyards, paved walkways and flowered planters connecting them.
The project, being designed by Charles Weston of Weston Miles Architects, started when Mobedshahi visited Oakland’s Rockridge Market Hall in April.
This three-story complex houses a popular high-end food market, the famed Oliveto restaurant, a coffee bar and bakery at street level, offices and residences upstairs and parking and Curves for Women underground.
“I was inspired by this trip to Oakland,” Mobedshahi said Thursday.
Market Hall was a significant part of Rockridge’s rebirth as a successful business district, giving a boost to nearby shops and restaurants and providing a wealth of resources for commuters using the adjacent BART station.
Mobedshahi wants to reproduce part of this success with the mixed-use project, adding a ready-made customer base for existing downtown shops and restaurants, for new ones on the horizon and for a rejuvenated Downtown Mall and perhaps even the Granada Theater.
The City Council has encouraged mixed-use, residential projects for the downtown and, on Wednesday, allowed Mobedshahi’s project to move forward to compete in the 2005-06 Measure C competition with 10 residential units and five commercial/office spaces and parking underground.
With, however, the understanding that the five office spaces could enter the Measure C competition the following year and, if approved, be converted to living space. Measure C is the voter-approved residential growth-control ordinance mandating that the city will not grow larger than 48,000 by 2020.
Developers compete to earn points that, in turn, can lead to building permits – or housing starts.
“This is a unique opportunity to do a special kind of project,” Weston said after the council’s 4-0 vote.
Jim Rowe, the city’s planning manager, said current business owners would not have to add parking spaces eliminated by the project.
“The city has been developing midblock parking lots and doesn’t require downtown businesses to make up spaces elsewhere,” Rowe said.
While customers are known to prefer to park in front of a business for the shortest walk possible, there is parking behind most buildings on both sides of the street, on all side streets and a block away in the Caltrain parking lot.
Signs have been installed at Mobedshahi’s lot behind the Downtown Mall and the Granada, warning that the lot is for tenants only. The lots between East Second and East Third and those between West First and West Third streets are public and always available.
Mobedshahi’s and a similar project Weston Miles Architects with market-rate, for-sale condominiums are working on at their new Depot Street/East Main Avenue property will both compete in a special downtown set-a-side Measure C competition designed to encourage mixed use.
Mixed use projects have proved efficient in jump-starting stalled downtown business districts across the country; council has encouraged this project even though the property is not one designated for high density units. Mobedshahi complimented council members on their willingness to take some chances.
“This spirit of pioneering something new will send a message,” Mobedshahi said.
He also said that he has asked for no Redevelopment Agency money to help with the project. Mike Wilkinson, who is in talks with Mobedshahi to lease the Granada, is planning to submit a request for RDA help with restoring the historical aspects of the theater if lease arrangements can be worked out with Mobedshahi.
Weston said the downtown flood plain, that requires new building to be raised 18 inches to avoid potential flooding by the unimproved Little Llagas Creek, will not be a problem.
“If it is necessary I will build in a flood-proof membrane and a flood door around the ground-floor units,” Weston said.
He said it will take about two years for Mobedshahi’s project to be complete.
