The Green on Park Place Update
The Planning Commission met tonight to cover two main topics. The first was to recommend that the City Council approve D.R. Horton’s request for a 2.5 year extension to build out the Metropolitan condominium development at the East Dublin BART station transit village.
The second topic was to review and approve The Green on Park Place as currently proposed by the developer (Blake Hunt Ventures). Here is a selection of the many interesting items that were covered:
- The Green will have photovoltaic solar panels on the roofs of the buildings. The developer is also striving to achieve at least a Silver LEED certification. The Green could potentially be the first retail shopping center in all of California to be LEED compliant.
- The model for The Green had giant green leaves attached to the outside walls of the Whole Foods building (seen when driving northbound on Hacienda from the I-580 off ramps).
- There will be an impressive public art structure right in front of Whole Foods. The details are to be determined.
- The Green will have an impressive array of fully-grown trees – including poplar, cypress, and olive trees. The olive trees will be approximately 50-years old and will be sprayed with a special substance that will prevent them from fruiting.
- Traffic will flow in between the various retail buildings (including directly through the center Green). The developer would like to do this to provide a “vibrancy” throughout the center.
- The developer also requested to have the option to increase the amount of restaurant space and reduce the amount of retail space. This is just to have more flexibility in marketing to prospective tenants.
The next major step for The Green on Park Place will be to receive City Council feedback and approval on the developer’s current proposal. Please keep checking back for more details related to The Green on Park Place.
Please let me know if you have any questions/comments related to The Green on Park Place.
12:11 AM on July 23rd, 2008
Just my opinion, but i did cringe when I read “giant leaves etched onto the buildings..” I guess I can’t picture this looking good in any way. When I think of great looking structures / developments, I’ve never thought, “wow, there should be some giant art/designs put on the side of these building.” Ugh, it just sounds so corny, doesn’t it?
Maybe I’m just being critical, but I really care about how Dublin proceeds with this flagship development and I worry how this will look.. It reminds me of the cheesy italian restaurants that paint murals on the walls, or worse, grape vines around the windows or doorways..Can anyone name any single development or building or anything that has a similar feature, as an example (where it looks good, adds to the design in a positive way).. Any idea of who thought up the giant leaf design? With this flagship project, Dublin should be very careful on this, and it would be good to have concrete examples of this type of design feature looking good and not looking dated or corny in anyway..
4:35 AM on July 23rd, 2008
Hi Gordon – the architect came up with the idea for the leaf design after receiving feedback from one of the Planning Commissioners talking about how he’d like to see more distinctiveness with the design. With that said, I looked at the model last night, and I don’t recall what the leafs looked like. I’ll see if I can get more info on where exactly they’ll be and which material they’ll be made from.
Thx, John Z.
6:34 AM on July 23rd, 2008
Did they give more of a concrete time frame?
6:41 AM on July 23rd, 2008
Hi Anonymous – the time frame wasn’t discussed during last night’s meeting. However, the current expectation (based on previous discussions) is that The Green on Park Place will be opening in the first quarter of 2010.
Thx, John Z.
9:17 AM on July 23rd, 2008
The “special substance” is called Florel. Its scientific name is Ethephon (2-chloroethyl) phosphonic acid [1]. It is essentially a hormone designed to alter and regulate plant growth. According to the Southern Agricultural Insecticides, Inc., it is considered “harmful if absorbed through skin.” For those who are interested, read the “Environmental Hazards” section of the electronic pamphlet cited below. Since this product is a hormone, I worry about the effect it will have on pregnant women, babies, and children. I hope it’s not too late for the City of Dublin to let the developers know that the residents of Dublin are not interested in becoming guinea pigs in the Green on Park Place hormone study.
[1] http://www.southernag.com/PDF%20Files/florel.pdf
4:55 PM on July 23rd, 2008
Hi John,
The developer has put more resources on their Green on Park Place website. There is now a link to a picture gallery on the home page. Last night, the developer claimed that this project will surpass Santana Row, as it will address some of the “opportunities” Santana Row did not. I don’t have a degree in retail building design, but I just don’t see what they were talking about. Throughout most of Santana Row, the wide walkways are partially covered by the building itself, so shoppers can stroll comfortably in the shade when it’s raining or when the sun is too bright. Because of the Green on Park Place’s post-modern style, the buildings are just big boxes with minimal shading for the shoppers. Also, I am not sure if it’s a good idea to allow cars in between the various retail buildings (what the developer referred to as the “Green” part of the project). Finally, I don’t see how shoppers can get safely from one of those outlier stores to the “Green” part of the plaza without sharing the road with cars circling the lot for parking spaces. For a project that claims to have a high walkability rating, it seems lacking in pedestrian-only walk paths. In fact, the layout of those outlier stores and the “Green” part of the project reminds me of the Union Landing Shopping Center in Union City. Based on the model shown last night, the Green on Park Place is just Union Landing Shopping Center with a racetrack down the center, a lot of trees, and a public art as tall as the Sybase building that looks like three incense sticks. Perhaps I am being way too picky, but I think it’s really important for Dublin to apply the lessons learned from Hacienda Crossing and do something extraordinary, as the Green on Park Place will set the tone for the other projects to come in that area.
5:01 PM on July 23rd, 2008
Hi Gordon – quick update on the leaves – the model of The Green indicated that the leaves will be green and affixed to the outside walls of Whole Foods. They can be seen when driving northbound on Hacienda from the I-580 off ramps.
Thx, John Z.
8:36 PM on July 23rd, 2008
I agree that the design stuff I’ve seen does not look as nice / upscale as Santana Row.. I’m also concerned with the amount of traffic that will be going through the center of this too…
Check this link out too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWXTFTtAIf0
the video shows too much of the stores in this shopping center, but there is some good video of walkways, kids playground, sitting areas, fountains,etc…
8:44 PM on July 23rd, 2008
Hi Gordon – we need to have something as distinctive, original, and alluring as SanTan Village here in Dublin at The Green.
Thank you for sharing this video. It provides an excellent baseline.
Thx, John Z.
4:25 PM on July 30th, 2008
Saw the model at City Hall last night..
The giants leaves don’t look as bad as I had imagined.. I would still prefer no leaves, but hey, I’ll admit, they don’t look as bad as I had thought they might look (at least on the tiny model building of Whole Foods)….
3:56 PM on October 6th, 2008
Hi John,
Anyword at all on Whole Foods, I’ve heard they’ve delayed some store opening. Wondering if this will have any affects on the Dublin Store. This would be awful since 2010 seems too far away already as it is. Any further delays would be painful.
7:20 PM on October 6th, 2008
Hi Anonymous – as recently as August, Whole Foods was still planning to open their Dublin store in spring 2010. Here’s the source article for this info:
http://eastbay.bizjournals.com/eastbay/stories/2008/08/18/story8.html?b=1219032000^1685864
I’ll check to see if there have been any updates on the Whole Foods opening.
Thx, John Z.
3:16 PM on October 10th, 2008
This really seems like just another shopping area.
I’d still thing the developer should do more to make it like Santana row, especially the aspect of indoor/outdoor sidewalk dining and entertainment that is so prevelent at Santana Row but completely missing in the tri-valley area. Unfortunately the way the video makes it look is much more like the area where WholeFoods is in San Ramon.
3:40 PM on October 10th, 2008
The current council and planning commission worked really hard on this project. I am sure they wouldn’t have approved this project, if it didn’t meet their high standards of excellence. In these hard economic times, Dublin should be thankful we have developers who are willing to invest in our city and not be overly critical of everything.