Just a facade

I was already largely happy with the designs for the Del Monte Building, I’m glad that this building is finally (crossed fingers) getting a project that has a likelihood of actually getting started and completely unlike the number of iterations that we have seen in the past.   But in preparation for the Historic Advisory Board meeting on Thursday it appears that Tim Lewis Communities has actually improved on the design for both the historic restoration and the modern building nestled inside.

The changes for the historic portion includes changing the overhangs from glass to perforated metal and adding variegated glass windows.

The changes to the modern building is pretty substantial in look.   First, while the original design was very boxy and flat, the updated design has created some different heights to give the new building more visual interest than a big box:

Somewhere, beyond the sea (of parking)

It appears that most of the commenters about the Del Monte project were concerned about not turning Alameda into Berkeley or San Francisco because the parking.  Because apparently in order to not turn Alameda into those two terrible cities of OMG Berkeley or horrorofhorrors San Francisco you must have AT LEAST two parking spaces per unit.

There was some talk about “competing and conflicting studies”, personally I have never read any studies about how endless parking is great for traffic mitigation, but I’m always open to seeing these conflicting studies.

Anyway, I feel like all these people are ignoring two thing that were brought up by a commenter the other day.

(1) Awesome Estuary Crossing shuttle that has a stop that takes people to and from the Bart station for commuting purposes which takes cars off the road

and

Ours is the fury

Remember tonight the Planning Board will be talking about the street names for Alameda Landing so if anyone wants to bring my Song of Fire and Ice idea (hint hint) you’re welcome to.

Also on the agenda for tonight will be the Del Monte project from Tim Lewis Communities which s, in grand Alameda tradition, growing quite the negative reputation for itself.   They are presenting a Master Plan for the Del Monte project which is probably the farthest that anyone has gotten on this particular building so kudos for the Tim Lewis Communities.

I think for the case of this particular project I’m going to go with the old standard of not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good.  In the case of the Del Monte building we have a beautiful old building and, look, I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not a preservationist by any stretch of the imagination, but even I like this building.   But the building has a lot of problems.  Unlike the Chipman Warehouse site, no one is climbing all over themselves to renovate this puppy.   I can’t even count how many iterations Peter Wang went through for this property alone.  Suffice it to say, it’s a difficult project.

Bays front

So, I said I wasn’t going to get excited about anything at the Del Monte building again, but, I guess I lied.  Tim Lewis Communties’ proposal for Del Monte is all kinds of interesting.   It took me a while to get to it because the video from the Planning Board meeting where it was first introduced took a while to get uploaded.   But here is the full file.   I’ll pull out some renderings that I think are particularly notable.

First, here are inspiration example (not necessarily designed by the architect) but the direction that they are going in for the Del Monte project.

Bits and pieces, development-y stuff

Big news, Lennar just purchased the Chipman Terminals lot from the developer that worked so hard to entitle the property last year.  From the San Francisco Business Times:

The site was recently picked up by homebuilder Lennar, which plans to build 89 homes on the 7.2-acre plot at 1551 Buena Vista Ave.

Lennar bought the site for $17 million from Trident Partners, which spent close to a decade entitling the site for 52 single family homes and a 37-unit condo building and finally bought the property in January 2013.

This, of course, is the cleanest and most straightforward of the three properties that used to be owned by Peter Wang.  I believe Peter Wang only owns the Del Monte building now after years and years for trying to develop the three properties into something.

In more development related stuff, a new Day Spa recently went before the Zoning Administrator for approval, if successful it will be on the second floor of the building in which Pacific Pinball is housed.

Once more, with feeling

The Chipman Terminal development is back on the Planning Board’s agenda for tonight.

Here’s the weird thing, the tentative map in the agenda is completely different than the one in Exhibit 3:

Go play

Wow. Just wow.

I’m a little bit behind on some of my City meeting watching so forgive me for being late on this one.   I just finished watching the Planning Board meeting about the Chipman development and the developer for this project has to be THE archetype for “asshole developer.”   If anyone was ever looking to write a script and needed inspiration for how “asshole developer” would behave, look no further than this meeting.

Just watch, yes, I know it’s long, but if you just watch random little bits of it, you’ll get the gist of it:

Chipman on the old block

Tonight the Planning Board will be hearing an update on the Del Monte/Encinal Terminal/Peter Wang property, mostly this is a compliance review for the interim use permit and a request for a 10 month extension in order to allow the current business to make their move to Oakland.

Buried in the text is an update on the state of the development of the site.  If you will remember, the City commissioned and Peter Wang paid for yet another development plan last year to redevelop the Encinal/Del Monte/Chipman Terminal site entitled Vision 2010.

There is a new development in the development of this site.   According to the staff report:

In March 2011, staff transmitted the draft text to the Mr. Wang and Mr. Wang’s selected development partner, the Stringer Development Company for review.

…

In July, the Stringer Company met with city staff and indicated that the Stringer Company and their design consultants would like to take the draft text prepared by staff and the design concepts prepared by UDA and prepare a draft Master Plan for staff, community and Planning Board review. The Stringer Company has not yet completed that work.

Target, blight, and sublease

A few bits and pieces for the weekend.  Yesterday City Manager John Russo tweeted this news:

City of Alameda gets letter of intent from Target. Great score considering the tough economy!

— John Russo (@John_A_Russo) October 6, 2011

Yes, apparently even though there is a new Target in fairly close proximity to Alameda that has recently opened in Emeryville/Oakland, Target is still interested in opening up a store in Alameda.   Go figure.  Which can only mean one thing: Alamedans shop at Target a lot.

The last proposed site of the Alameda Target was for Alameda Landing, so I am assuming that remains the location of choice for Target.   Or, perhaps now that Alameda Point will be handed over to the City, they might be eyeing some Alameda Point parcels instead.   Although my only Target request, please have those lockable wheel thingies on the carts.  Thanks!

Consenting adults

Tonight, the City Council — in addition to reviewing the two Police contracts — will also be considering the Boatworks density bonus application and approving (or not) the tentative map for the property.    As I mentioned last week, there was no opposition at the Planning Board meeting when the Planning Board voted to recommend approval of the application and tentative map.

To recap, there will be 182 units on site and the developer has put in a density bonus application to waive Measure A for certain units on the site.   And unlike other projects, the City will have to tread carefully because of the ruling in the lawsuit filed against the City.