There’s something tempting for developers in the proposed Town Center development but, thus far, various ideas for the 58-acre parcel in downtown Scotts Valley have turned up short.
Bordered by Mt. Hermon Road, Sky Park Drive, Blue Bonnet Lane and a residential development, Town Center has four parcels of buildable land owned by Scotts Valley, Santa Cruz, the former AmeriGas and the existing Scotts Valley Boat and RV Storage.
The long, strange trip began with an idea for a city hub that flourished and then flopped because of economic slumps in 2001 and 2008. But the community retained a solid vision of restaurants, residential spaces and boutique retail stores.
And so a 241-page plan was created in 2008 to identify various types of land uses, urban design concepts and architectural design guidelines.
Stanbery Development entered into an exclusive agreement for the Town Center between 2007 and 2010, and failed to move forward.
Next up was Pleasanton-based Property Development Centers LLC, which in 2012 explored building a Town Center and, at the same time, relocating Safeway to the spot on the other side of Mt. Hermon Road.
The ever-optimistic city council in 2016 then entered into an agreement with Foothill Partners, a San Jose developer who stumbled when he ran into negotiations with the City of Santa Cruz, which owns an 8-acre parcel land smack dab in what was formerly the Sly Park Airport.
Despite the land’s less-than-sterling track record, two new developers made a pitch for their version of the Town Center before the city council on Wed, Feb. 21. Two additional developers’ ideas were ruled inappropriate for the spot prior to the meeting.
Because Councilman Randy Johnson was unable to attend the Feb. 21 meeting, there was no swing vote. However, below are the two finalists, which readers can review before the next meeting on March 7.
Palisades Builders, Inc.
Working in cooperation with land use consultant Owen Lawlor, Douglas Ross
Construction (DRC) and Palisade Builders (PBI) have been building in the greater San
Francisco area for over 35 years. Over that time, PBI has constructed over 15,000 units,
consisting of commercial, retail, historic building renovation projects, hotels, and multiple forms of housing, including affordable housing.
Braddock and Logan
Working with cooperation with Corbett Wright, Principal at CW Land Consultants, Inc.,
Braddock and Logan and its affiliates are a diversified real estate development and
management company operating in the San Francisco Bay area since 1947.
The company has a development portfolio of more than 33,000 new homes, 3,000 apartment homes and 355,000 square feet of retail and commercial facilities and expertise in real estate planning, design, construction and customer service in communities throughout the greater Bay Area.
To view the entire council report and drawings of each candidate’s vision go to: https://tinyurl.com/y83djnba
