Billionaire Rick Caruso, President and CEO of Caruso Affiliated, recently entered into a purchase agreement with the Alameda County Surplus Authority to acquire 14 acres of prime real estate in eastern Dublin, CA for $13.1M to build a high-end outdoor lifestyle and retail center across from Hacienda Crossings and Sybase. The Caruso center is expected to have somewhere between 165,000 and 180,000 square feet of commercial space. The Dublin City Council recently provided a key approval to study the feasibility of amending the City’s general and Eastern Dublin specific plans to eventually allow the shopping center project to move forward.
“The center will be thoughtfully designed and merchandized to meet the needs of the community and respect the unique character of the City of Dublin,” said Caruso in a letter to Mayor Tim Sbranti and the Council.
Caruso’s recently acquired parcel is currently zoned for campus office space. The plan changes would alert the zoning on the 14-acre parcel to a general commercial and campus office designation. The process to change the general and specific plans is expected to be consummated with a final Dublin City Council approval in the near future. Caruso Affiliated will cover all costs associated with the studies.
The All-America City of Dublin, CA and Charter Properties have recently launched a campaign of misinformation and half-truths to garner public approval for additional residential units on top of the 1,396 already built in the heart of Dublin Ranch Villages. Instead of winning general support for this controversial proposal, Dublin City Hall and Charter Properties have only succeeded in inflaming the many concerned stakeholders and solidifying their opposition to this unwanted land use change. In response to the overwhelming public outrage against the attempt by Dublin City Hall and Charter Properties to renege on the promise of high-end retail at the Promenade, Mayor Tim Sbranti has spent the past week working to encourage Charter Properties and KB Home to withdraw their request to rezone half of the Promenade to higher density residential at 25 units per acre.
Mayor Sbranti lives in the Villas at Dublin Ranch Villages, which is just a short walk from where Charter Properties will be building the condos. “If (Charter Properties and KB Home) don’t (pull their request) then I will be speaking out against this proposal at Tuesday’s meeting,” confirmed Mayor Sbranti. Mayor Sbranti needs your support at the hearing on September 20th to ensure that the Dublin City Council votes unanimously against this unpopular land use change.
Efforts to block Walmart from opening a Neighborhood Market in Pleasanton, CA intensified at a recent City Council meeting. In response to the call to arms by the OurPleasanton group, yellow-badged protesters packed into Pleasanton’s City Council Chambers earlier this month to show opposition to the retailer’s plans to open in the former Nob Hill pad at 3112 Santa Rita Road. Those speaking in opposition to the Neighborhood Market grocery store cited Walmart’s below living standard wages, inadequate health care benefits, traffic, and environmental impacts as reasons for Pleasanton’s Council to block the store from opening.
Given the anonymous nature of the yellow-badgers’ leadership group and the fact that the initial fliers contained what was at the time inside information, some believe that Safeway could be the driving force behind the OurPleasanton group. “I think you all are getting played. Everyone around the area has been receiving anonymous flyers in the mail about this subject yet no one knows who is behind the flyers,” Pleasanton Weekly member “Stacey” from the Amberwood/Wood Meadows neighborhood summed up this theory.
Not all residents are opposed to having Walmart’s Neighborhood Market open in the former Nob Hill pad. Many note that Walmart will bring more jobs to Pleasanton, while others in the area simply want a grocery store close to their homes.
Dublin, CA residents are eagerly awaiting the grand opening of the Livermore Valley Paragon Outlets Mall in November 2012. Phase I of the mall will feature 120 stores spread over 543,000 square feet along El Charro Road across from Staples Ranch in Pleasanton. Paragon and Livermore City Hall predict that the Paragon Outlets Mall will generate over 2,000 new jobs for the area.
Charter Properties and Dublin City Hall have recently launched a campaign of misinformation to recast their attempt to renege on the promise of high-end retail at the Promenade in Dublin, CA. The goal of this campaign is to win public support for additional residential units on top of the 1,396 already built in the heart of Dublin Ranch Villages. To ensure that all residents see the true intentions of Charter Properties and the City of Dublin clearly, the Around Dublin Team would like to share the Top 10 Little Lies Overheard at Dublin City Hall About the Promenade.
The request from Charter Properties and KB Home to initiate the process of converting the Promenade to higher density condos will be discussed during a City Council public hearing on Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 7PM in the City Council Chambers at 100 Civic Plaza in Dublin. If the City Council approves this initial step, the remaining 5.7 acres of the 11.4-acre Promenade area will likely get rezoned to high-density residential once Toll Brothers has sold the remaining units at the Terraces and is no longer a threat to sue Charter Properties, KB Home, and the City of Dublin for the land use change.
Dublin, CA recently took a big step forward to annex the controversial 1,450-acre Doolan Canyon parcel just outside of its current eastern city limits. To put the 1,450 acres in perspective, the Eastern Dublin Specific Plan covers roughly 3,300 acres from Dougherty Road all the way to Fallon Village. If the City of Dublin succeeds in this huge land grab, it will increase the size of East Dublin by almost 50%.
Dublin City Manager Joni Pattillo will negotiate an agreement with environmental consulting firm Circlepoint to prepare California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) documents at a cost of up to $800,000. The consulting fees will be a pass-through expense to be paid by Pacific Union, a development firm based in Danville, CA. Pacific Union’s vision is to build an active lifestyle senior community in East Dublin. This 1,990-home master-planned development aims to rival the popular Rossmoor community in Walnut Creek. Of the 1,450 acres under consideration, Pacific Union is currently promising 800 acres as open space.
Resident driving in and around Dublin, CA have undoubtedly noticed the surge in new home and retail projects under construction across the city. Dublin’s vibrancy and desirability have attracted developers and well-known companies to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in the city. New home projects currently under construction include Jordan Ranch, Bella Monte, Fallon Crossing, Sorrento East, and the Positano communities. Retail projects nearing completion include Target at Fallon Crossing, REI, and Sports Authority.
One of All-America City of Dublin, CA’s crowning achievements in the past decade is its commitment to affordable housing. Over the past few decades, U.S. government entities at the local, state, and federal levels have taken steps to ensure that residents have a minimum standard of living space to call home. This policy is motivated by the belief that every region must allow for affordable housing in order to have robust economies for growth and viable communities for raising families.
Public housing projects, developer-mandated below market rate (BMR) units, and section 8 vouchers are the primary tools used to guarantee affordable housing. Before its demolition, the Arroyo Vista community on Dougherty Road in Dublin gave shelter to people who otherwise would not be able to afford to live in the Bay Area. Once it is rebuilt by a public-private partnership between KB Homes and Eden Housing, the community will be reborn as the Emerald Vista mixed-income development where nearly half of the homes will be BMR rental units like the ones at The Groves. Dublin also has many BMR for-sale units throughout the city, including many condo units at the Terraces and townhome units at Silvera Ranch.
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