Cochrane Commons

The large retail center at the northeast corner of Cochrane Road
and U.S. 101 now has a name:
”
Cochrane Commons.
”
Speaking of Cochrane Commons, you probably have noticed lots of
construction activity going on in Cochrane Commons. Target is
slated to open at the end of July at which time the old Target will
close. However, the other shops and buildings won’t be completed
until fall sometime. The new Target is about 125,000 square feet or
about 50 percent larger than the old Target.
The large retail center at the northeast corner of Cochrane Road and U.S. 101 now has a name: “Cochrane Commons.” Speaking of Cochrane Commons, you probably have noticed lots of construction activity going on in Cochrane Commons. Target is slated to open at the end of July at which time the old Target will close. However, the other shops and buildings won’t be completed until fall sometime. The new Target is about 125,000 square feet or about 50 percent larger than the old Target.

Some new tenants to report are Quizno’s, GNC, Radio Shack, and Payless Shoes. Payless and GNC may be relocating existing stores and, I believe, Radio Shack is opening a new store. As a side note, before Cochrane Commons was constructed, the developer agreed to not proactively recruit tenants from other centers in town, but if these tenants approached them on their own, they would talk to them.

With respect to the existing Target space, Target actually owns its space and the owner of Cochrane Plaza is conducting his due diligence to acquire the space. This makes a lot of sense because the owner would have more control over the destiny of his center. One of the key challenges facing the owner of Cochrane Plaza is determining the optimal tenant for the Target space. He needs to find a tenant or tenants that will bring people to the center who will then shop at the other stores in the center. Does he subdivide the space or does he wait until he can find one tenant to lease the entire space? There are rumors circulating that a grocery store or health club will occupy space. It is true that several parties have expressed interest in the space including grocery store and health club type uses, but the interest is either very preliminary or the user decided not to pursue the space.

WHO’S HERE NOW?

The construction activity on Condit Road north of Harley Davidson and south of Comfort Inn is related to preparations for the future location of Patio World. Patio World sells high quality outdoor patio furniture, grills, and related accessories. Morgan Hill will be its ninth store in California.

The International Council of Shopping Centers announced its Hot Retailers Awards for 2007. The awards are for the six most innovative and promising businesses. Believe it or not we have one of the companies in town: Little Gym on Vineyard Boulevard. I guess Little Gym is not so little now as it has franchises in 19 other countries.

If you haven’t been downtown in a while, please note that Reserve is open downtown in the old Jumpin Juice and Java location. The space has been remodeled by the owners of Trail Dust to be a wine bar. It offers wine by the half glass so you can taste different wines with the “appetizer type” food on the menu. It is a nice environment to enjoy a glass of wine.

I received an e-mail from Cindi Routhier, the owner of Trendz Kitchen and Bath at 700 E. Dunne Ave., near the Safeway/Home Depot Center in the old Fred’s Automotive location across from Walgreen’s. Routhier indicates that while there is a lot of emphasis downtown which they definitely appreciate and support, their business does not fall so conveniently in a named location/center. She and her husband, Ron, who are also Morgan Hill residents, opened their 4000 square-foot decorative plumbing showroom last summer. 

Speaking of Trendz (pun intended) there is another design showroom on Monterey Road in the Candy Park retail center. It’s call Visions kitchen bath home design center. So we go from no design showrooms to two in a year. I would call that a mini-trend.

Quote of the Month

“Life is not life unless you make mistakes,” Joan Collins, actress and author. Apparently I’ve been enjoying life too much.