Times: Hercules developer recommits to New Town Center

— by Jeffrey Wisniewski — 9 August 2010 — Comments Off

One could interpret the developer’s presentation from two weeks ago in two different ways: (1) Favorably, that the developer is “in it for the long haul;” and (2) Unfavorably, that the developer (Red Barn) is likely laying the foundation — a substantive financial explanation — for an eventual exit from the project.

The developer has signed letters of intent with Cinema West (who run a similar facility in Livermore) for Cinema Town and the Fresh & Easy grocery chain for Market Town.

However, as Tom Lochner reports, “[Red Barn developer Tom] Weigel said the company soon will present a new master plan for Market Town to the planning commission.”

This may provide the rare opportunity to fix the proposed streetscape/pedestrian interaction along San Pablo Avenue and restore the Main & Main principle adopted by the Central Hercules Plan in 2000. Current plans for Market Town (shown below) feature an elaborate driveway and parking area along the San Pablo Avenue boundary.

Market Town

Instead, an urban streetscape could replace the driveway/parking and a more welcoming pedestrian-oriented element could be added to the corner at Sycamore Avenue, perhaps even a pedestrian ramp landing that many councilmembers seem to be so fond of (i.e., maybe this is a priceless opportunity to finally fix the San Pablo and Sycamore intersection and quit simply pushing the critical issue to the next project).