Ukiah plan: Shopping boon or mistake?

<p>UKIAH -- New designs are nearing completion for the single largest commercial development ever proposed for Mendocino County, a $120 million project that could cement Ukiah's future as a regional shopping hub for three counties.</p><p>With Mendocino Crossings -- a shopping and housing complex nearly the size of Santa Rosa Plaza -- the nation's largest shopping center developer seeks to tap into the estimated $160 million that rural residents in Mendocino, Humboldt and Lake counties spend every year shopping outside the area, largely in Sonoma County.</p><p>If built by Developers Diversified Realty, the Ukiah project would provide an estimated 500 to 700 trade and service-related jobs and would pump $2 million more a year in sales tax revenues into county coffers.</p><p>Costco, Target and Kohl's stores are envisioned to anchor the 600,000-square-foot center on the old Masonite mill site, an 85-acre parcel along Highway 101 about 1.5 miles north of downtown Ukiah.</p><p>In comparison, the 500,000-square-foot Santa Rosa Marketplace anchored by Costco was completed in 1995 at a cost of $31 million. Santa Rosa Plaza covers 695,000 feet, and Coddingtown Mall encompasses 980,000 square feet.</p><p>Jeff Adams, Developers Diversified's senior development director for California operations, said the Ukiah project could open by 2011 if the company succeeds in rezoning the site from industrial to a commercial-retail-mixed use designation.</p><p>Adams said specifics of the revamped Ukiah project will be unveiled at three public forums in mid-March.</p><p>But he called the project as "green as we can get."</p><p>Masses of roof-top solar panels would power the center, he said. Contaminant-free storm run-off from parking lots planted with so many trees "they'll look like forests" are among design elements, he said.</p><p>Besides the "big box" stores, Adams said the center will include smaller stores, about 100 apartments and some live-work units.</p><p>Ben Stone, Sonoma County's economic development director, said the proposed Ukiah center could create short-term losses for Santa Rosa-area retailers -- competition he called troubling.</p><p>"But the proposal is not unexpected and reflects the dynamics of an ever evolving retail sector," he said.</p><p>"It's amazing how quickly these individual developments can be absorbed by a region's larger economy," Stone said.</p><p>Developers Diversified and its Texas partner, David Berndt Interests Ltd. of Dallas, have spent the past several months substantially revising plans for the Ukiah project in the face of early opposition after the partnership bought the Masonite property.</p><p>Led by the Ukiah Valley Smart Growth Coalition, critics are injecting the project proposal into races for two seats on the county Board of Supervisors in hopes of thwarting the company's future rezoning requests and certification of necessary environmental studies.</p><p>For some opponents, no retail development of any kind at the Masonite site is the preferred alternative.</p><p>"There's no need to rezone that property. It should remain available for potential new industries," said Judy Pruden, a Ukiah city planning commissioner and spokeswoman for the smart growth coalition.</p><p>The Masonite Corp. plant was a fixture in Ukiah Valley for half a century, making wood siding and molded doors. But the company announced its closure in 2001 after a decade of uncertainty, leading to years of speculation about what would become of the site.</p><p>Pruden cited current big box stores already in a shopping strip developing piece-meal along Highway 101 south of Ukiah, while community and business leaders struggle to keep Ukiah's downtown retail core viable.</p><p>"The airport development is default planning at its worst. We should learn from our mistakes," Pruden said.</p><p>Adams said that's exactly why his company is trying to address local concerns early, including hiring the local architectural firm of Ruff &amp; Associates to complete design work.</p><p>"We're aware the Ukiah Valley has a unique character, and that local residents are fiercely protective of their community," he said.</p><p>You can reach Staff Writer Mike Geniella at 462-6470 or mgeniella@pressdemocrat.com.</p>