The city is set to begin paying back the developer of the
Cochrane Commons shopping center for public infrastructure
improvements that benefited existing and future users of the
properties.
The city is set to begin paying back the developer of the Cochrane Commons shopping center for public infrastructure improvements that benefited existing and future users of the properties.
The reimbursement of about $1.1 million will compensate the developer of the site whose anchor tenant is Target, 1061 Cochrane Road, for resurfacing and widening the road, installing a median strip and sidewalks, rights-of-way acquisitions, new traffic signals, a water main extension and other work completed by the developer.
In 2005, the city and Cochrane Commons developer Morgan Hill Retail Venture included the future reimbursements in the two-party development agreement, according to a city staff report. The 66-acre site required significant off-site improvements just to serve phase one of the project, which has a capacity of up to 660,000 square feet of retail space.
The developer went “above and beyond” what would normally be required for such a project in making off-site improvements, according to a memo from assistant city manager Leslie Little. Such improvements would otherwise have been the city’s responsibility.
The city will pay for those improvements with traffic impact funds, city staff said. Payment of another $224,000 worth of improvements done by the developer, consisting of a water main extension from Cochrane to Peet road, will be deferred until next year, when the city anticipates having more funds in its water impact fund, per the reimbursement agreement.
