City officials have started negotiating with a developer who plans to bring two restaurants to the former Simple Beverages liquor store property on the southeast corner of Third Street and Monterey Road.
However, a firm that competed for the winning proposal says the city is missing an opportunity to meet its stated “placemaking” goals. That firm, Weston Miles Architects in partnership with Leal Vineyards, hoped to develop a boutique hotel and a locally sourced restaurant designed and run by professionals with lengthy experience in the Morgan Hill hospitality industry.
For now, until any project begins construction at the site, the former parking area in front of the empty liquor store building will remain a temporary “pop-up park,” which celebrated its grand opening May 22. At the opening ceremony, City Manager Steve Rymer said if the park—which includes a number of interactive amenities such as a bike repair station and children’s play area—proves to be a hit, the city will consider relocating it to another site when construction of the permanent project begins.
City staff recommended San Jose-based partners Kenneth Rodrigues and Imwalle Properties to build on the site because they have the cash to start construction on phase one of their roughly 18,000 square foot proposal as soon as negotiations are over.
The developers, selected by the five-member council on a unanimous vote at the May 20 council meeting, also hold “letters of intent” from two restaurants—a fine dining establishment and an “all day breakfast and burger” restaurant, reads a staff report from Assistant City Manager Leslie Little.
Furthermore, adding to the attractiveness of Rodrigues/Imwalle’s proposal is they can pay the city, which owns the property, $525,000 cash for the land, Little explained.
Rodrigues declined to name the two restaurants that have committed to the project. He said if negotiations go well with the city, his crew can start building phase one—a 5,500-square-foot two-story building on Third Street—as soon as November. That part of the project would include both restaurants on the ground floor, though Rodrigues has not yet decided what to bring to the upper floor.
The restaurants would feature indoor and outdoor dining and furniture, Rodrigues explained.
“We’re trying to create a community oriented use, and I think the restaurants with the outdoor seating will be really attractive to citizens,” Rodrigues said. “And it will enliven the pedestrian streetscape and create more foot traffic and excitement between this project and the city’s parking garage (under construction on Fourth Street).”
Rodrigues/Imwalle’s second phase on the property would be a 6,000-square-foot retail building next to the restaurants with space for up to three tenants on Monterey Road.
The only other development team that submitted a competing proposal for the property—Weston Miles/Leal Vineyards—wanted to build a four-story mixed-use building on the site consisting of a ground-floor restaurant, also with outdoor seating, fronting both Third Street and Monterey Road, and 34-room boutique hotel. The proposal from the Morgan Hill-based developers included conference rooms and a day spa with a rooftop deck, city staff said.
The restaurant would feature “farm to table” dining offered by South Valley vintner and hospitality veteran Frank Leal. Lesley Miles of Weston Miles Architects said their project, which includes a “market hall” focusing on local and sustainable wine and produce, is the only proposal of the two that reflects Morgan Hill’s unique character.
Miles pulled the contract to negotiate exclusively with Rodrigues/Imwalle from the May 20 consent agenda, which consists of items typically considered routine that the council approves without discussion.
Specifically, Miles said after the meeting, the unique character that city staff and her development team seek to portray downtown is Morgan Hill’s “agricultural heritage, and particularly our burgeoning wine industry.” The proposed conference space would be ideally suited for wine events, complementing the Santa Clara Valley’s growth as a wine region, she added.
Miles cited previous downtown projects developed by Weston Miles—including the Granary building on Depot Street—and the development of other wine towns on the Central Coast such as Healdsburg and Paso Robles that have successfully preserved their respective region’s sense of place.
“When we as a community look at the most successful independently developed projects in the last 10 years, projects developed by members of our development team stand at the forefront,” Miles said. “They have a unique Morgan Hill character and the ability to draw both tourists and locals alike because they successfully create that sense of place and harken back our agricultural past.”
The city acquired the property through the dissolution of the Redevelopment Agency’s former assets. The RDA purchased the liquor store site in 2009 with the intent to sell it to a developer who would build a mixed-use project similar to that proposed by Weston Miles and Rodrigues.
However, the state closed the RDA in 2012 and ordered the city and county to dispose of its former properties and cash in a way that benefits public safety services and schools, among other basic services. The city purchased the liquor store site in March for $525,000, after convincing post-RDA regulators they could form a public-private partnership to develop the property consistent with the RDA’s original plan and the state’s desire to replenish the local taxing agencies’ coffers.
The current temporary use of the property as a park filled with public art, patio furniture, kids’ games and bicycle amenities is an effort to “activate” the space for uses other than parking, according to city staff.
