The city council has agreed to fund a ballot measure to lift a
planning restriction that prohibits a grocery store in the Cochrane
Plaza shopping center.
Morgan Hill – The city council has agreed to fund a ballot measure to lift a planning restriction that prohibits a grocery store in the Cochrane Plaza shopping center.
The measure, which could cost the city as much as $69,000, is intended to help the plaza compete with a 650,000 square-foot retail center east of U.S. Route 101 approved last month by the council. It will appear on the June 2006 ballot and will pass with a simple majority.
“I feel an obligation [to do this],” Councilman Greg Sellers said. “I think it would be appropriate of the council to offer their opinion that they’re in favor of the highest and best use of the property.”
The Morris family, owners of Cochrane Plaza, fear that the migration of its Target store to the new center across the highway will spur a mass exodus of it tenants, who all have leases allowing them to vacate if Target does. An environmental impact report predicted that the existing center may fall into blight and urban decay when the new shopping center opens.
Target owns its building in Cochrane Plaza and is currently searching for a tenant to fill the store when Target closes, probably in about a year. The new center is slated to open in February 2007.
Kirsten Powell, an attorney for the plaza owners, said allowing a grocery store will make it easier to find a new anchor for Cochrane Plaza.
The still unnamed center will be anchored by Target and is expected to include other so-called big box retails stores, restaurants, fast-food outlets, a movie theater and boutique and niche stores. The project is a partnership of Oakland developer Darryl Browman, J.P. Di Napoli of San Jose and the Gugliemos, a local family of vintners.
Ultimately, the center is expected to provide more than 650,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space on 66 acres northeast of Cochrane Road and 101. City leaders are hailing the project as an economic savior that will generate at least $1.2 million in sales tax each year, keep residents in the city to spend more money in other parts of town, and attract out-of-town shoppers, most notably from San Jose’s planned Coyote Valley development.
Last month, the city council unanimously approved an unprecedented $11.5 million incentive package of fee waivers to ease the financial burden of the developers, who will have to make road improvements and move a water supply pipeline as part of the project.
