Like dominoes placed long ago in a haphazard, yet still kinetic array, the walls of one of downtown Morgan Hill’s longtime favorite shopping centers came crashing down this week.
The demolition of Depot Center, colloquially known as the BookSmart center, is scheduled to be complete this week, according to city officials. The razing of the building that used to house more than a dozen commercial tenants will make way for a new residential/commercial project to be developed by new property owner City Ventures.
“They had to remove some asbestos” before knocking down the structure on Depot Street between Second and Third streets, Assistant City Manager Leslie Little said. “Their plans are completely approved. They can move right into construction.”
The new project, known as Depot Station, will have up to 29 townhomes and four commercial units ranging in size from 516 to about 3,000 square feet, but the details are subject to change as construction gets closer, according to City Ventures Marketing Manager Petrise Switzer.
Current plans call for two-car private garage for 26 of the residences, and three one-car garages for the rest, Switzer added. The project will also deploy environmentally-friendly amenities, an aspect of residential construction that City Ventures prides itself on.
“The homes at Solera Ranch are solar,” Switzer said, referring to the single-family home City Ventures under way near the intersection of Monterey and Old Monterey roads in north Morgan Hill. She didn’t know yet if the new homes downtown would use solar power, but added, “We are a green builder.”
About a block and a half away, on Monterey Road, hospitality entrepreneur Frank Leal and his crew are in the process of “deconstruction” of the Downtown Mall, which will make way for the new Granada Hotel. Little said the Downtown Mall is “being gutted from the inside out,” as Leal strives to reuse many of the materials—such as lumber and decorative supplies—from the existing structure in his new project.
“Environmentally, that’s the smart thing to do,” Little said.
The four-story Granada Hotel will house up to 60 rooms, conference space, a swimming pool and spa. The ground floor will contain a steakhouse and market hall, flower shop, and lobby with a wine bar.
Next door at the Granada Theater, Leal’s renovation project will transform the former movie house into a multi-purpose event center. Community Solutions’ annual Black, White & Bling fundraiser is scheduled there for Dec. 10, shortly after the expected completion of construction.
These projects and others are part of the city’s longtime plan—first set into motion by the now defunct Redevelopment Agency—to revitalize the downtown neighborhood. Completed projects that work toward that end are the new four-story parking garage and various street and public infrastructure upgrades throughout the downtown.
Demolition is complete and grading is underway at the former Simple Beverages property at Third Street and Monterey Road. Developers Ken Rodrigues and Don Imwalle will build four new restaurants owned by The Opa! Group on the site by next summer.
The former Royal Clothier building at Second Street and Monterey Road—now owned by developer Lone Star—will soon see exterior renovations, Little added. Royal Clothier men’s clothing store has moved across the street on Monterey Road, and Tryst boutique is getting ready to move out to a new location downtown.
The city sold these sites—as well as the Granada Theater, Downtown Mall and Depot Center properties—to their current owners last year for fractions of the cost that the RDA paid for them in 2008 and 2009.
Most of the former tenants of the properties have found new locations to make way for the new development, though most were unable to remain downtown.
Furthermore, the 4,000-square-foot retail shell on the ground floor of the Third Street side is “fully leased,” Little added. Orange Theory Fitness, a private gym, and Coffee Guys coffee shop will move into those spaces after tenant improvements are complete.
The design process for three new downtown parks is also moving along, Little said. One of the parks will be located on Second Street, one on the top of the hill at Third Street and Del Monte Avenue where a city water tank is, and other other in the Caltrain parking lot on Depot Street.
All of the projects are expected to be complete within the next 18 months, according to the developers and city staff.
When the downtown revitalization is complete, the city will have spent $25 million of former RDA funds on the public infrastructure improvements, parks and assistance to the private developers.
