Grafton Plaza Back to Square One
After nearly nine month of silence, the Grafton Plaza project in Dublin, CA, is heating up again. The City Council had previously approved plans proposed by Pleasanton-based Charter Properties to build four 150-foot buildings at Grafton Plaza stretching up to ten stories high. The project was to include campus office, residential, retail, a hotel, and a day spa. In a stunning turn of events, Charter Properties is rebooting the project and requesting to have two development options for Grafton Plaza instead. One option will allow Grafton Plaza to be Mixed Use with 50.1% commercial and 49.9% residential. The other option will turn Grafton Plaza into 100% campus office. Both options will have a new maximum footprint of 496,519 square feet.
The most surprising element in Charter Properties’ request is, perhaps, the maximum footprint of 496,519 square feet. This maximum footprint is less than one-half of the square footage requested and approved by the City Council in 2008. The reduced square footage means that the buildings at Grafton Plaza will not exceed six stories, while the original square footage approved in 2008 would have allowed buildings up to ten stories.
The Original Grafton Plaza Proposal
With this project reboot, Charter Properties is essentially requesting the flexibility to build vastly different projects on the same parcel of land. Given the long and expensive legal battle Charter Properties is in over the Oak Grove project in Pleasanton, the underwhelming demand for commercial space at Grafton Station in Dublin, and the extremely tight credit market, concern over Charter Properties’ cash flow continues to grow. Charter Properties could be shopping the Grafton Plaza project around to other developers in an attempt to shore up its cash reserves. This scenario would be analogous to what happened with Gateway Medical Center. In that case, the original developer requested to have the flexibility to build either a hospital or a health office building. After the City Council approved the expanded development options, the developer sold the project to the Eden Township Health District.
The City will be holding several public hearings to provide details of the new proposal and review feedback from the community. Your input on Grafton Plaza is critical to the success and viability of the project. Residents have until Monday, February 8, 2010, at 5PM to provide comments. Feedback can be submitted to senior planner Mike Porto at 100 Civic Plaza, Dublin, CA 94568. Mr. Porto can also be reached by phone at (925) 833-6610 to discuss the project in more detail.
7:20 PM on January 28th, 2010
100% Commercial building: Yes
Mixed Use Residential and office: BIG NO
The city should not approve anymore high density housing development until the housing market is fully developed. In addition, high density housing is only viable near mass transit hub like Bart Station.
9:58 PM on January 28th, 2010
I second that opinion for YES 100% commerical. We don’t need anymore residential condos. They are having a hard enough time selling the Terraces as it is.
I’m also glad the number of stories for the buildings has gone down to 6-ish.
11:25 PM on January 28th, 2010
Anybody know how many percent they terrace condos are sold?
4:38 AM on January 29th, 2010
Hi Anonymous – I don’t know for sure, but I have heard that most of buildings 5 and 6 are sold. There may be a handful left in both buildings. I believe that I heard that building 7 is about 30-40% sold. Building 8 will be available once Toll has sold something around 75% or 80% of units in building 7.
Thx, John Z.
8:43 AM on January 29th, 2010
Not too bad in this economy. Hope they are not rushing to sell and lowering the price.
8:37 PM on January 29th, 2010
They have lowered the prices to mid $300Ks at the Terraces. Use to be upper $300s and $400s
9:21 PM on January 29th, 2010
That was what I realized some of the short sale can go as low as 300000 for a 1100SF unit. Sighhh……..As an owner of Elan, nothing I can do.
6:46 AM on January 29th, 2010
I think that 100% commercial would be the best. However, I do think that we are looking at this in a small time frame. In the last 3 years a lot has happened, and I don’t think you can look at projetcs like this in short windows. Yes, it may be 3 years or 10 before that project even gets off the ground and who is to say that then housing may be wanted. For all we know, in 2 years Grafton Station may be full, Kaiser may be serious about a hospital next door, and a Target may be at Fallon. There may be demand for housing right there. I know we want to see progress on all these great projets, but I have a feeling it will be years now.
9:17 AM on January 29th, 2010
Anything can happen years from now. However, there are way too many uncertainties in this market. I would not bet on the housing recovery to be sustainable in a short to mid term, especially in the condo sector. Condos sector tends to lag behind the market for years. There appear to be a shortage on the single family houses, since multiple offers are very typical for most newly-listed homes in Dublin. However, condos price keep on dropping to a unsustainable level that the developers may not even make a decent profit, unless they compromise with lower quality of material to keep cost down. 100% commercial plus hotel development will be more beneficial to the local enoconomy and housing market in general. Taking an example of Irvine in southern california. They did not build most commercial and residential all at once. Most high density housing were built after the major empolyers moved in. In addition, housing project normally take much less time to build than commerical buildings. If the high density condo demand were about to increase, I am sure the developer will request a change in use at the time. I think that it is absolutely inappropriate to put cloud over the current condo owners in the area. There may be a hint of light in the tunnel for single family home owner, but it will be years from now for condo owners.
6:50 AM on January 29th, 2010
Saw this in the paper this morning on Kolb Elementry.
http://www.insidebayarea.com/…/ci_14289247