New owner refines Deer Creek project

<p>The new owner of a Lowe’s Home Improvement-anchored mixed-use project in north Petaluma has reworked the planned development to have less space and be more park-like.</p><!-- Nothing to do. The paragraph has already been output --><p>Merlone Geier Partners, a developer and redeveloper of retail and mixed-use properties, is preparing to submit revised plans to the city for consideration after getting a number of comments last fall from the city Site Plan and Architectural Review Committee, or SPARC, and a community meeting on the existing plans for Deer Creek Plaza, now called Deer Creek Village, according to Managing Director Greg Geersten.</p><p>The firm, which has offices in San Francisco and San Diego, acquired the 36-acre property, located along Highway 101 at the southwest corner of Rainier Avenue and North McDowell Boulevard, in a portfolio purchase from Downey Savings & Loan in August.</p><p>“We got comments on what we should do with the main street area and along the creek and the need for quality outdoor areas around the buildings,” Mr. Geersten said. One suggestion was to allow for a portion of the north-south internal road paralleling North McDowell to be closed occasionally for fairs and farmer’s markets.</p><p>The design committee also noted the need to avoid a boxy look to the buildings and a more functional placement of them.</p><p>The new design, now totaling 314,000 square feet rather than 412,000 square feet in the original plan, has more variety in building facades and rooflines and paved trails with benches on either side of Deer Creek, now just a drainage ditch that runs across the north quarter of the site, ending in fitness paths in the undeveloped northwest corner of the property.</p><p>The original plan had medical offices to serve practitioners connected to Petaluma Valley Hospital, located across North McDowell. However, SPARC members recommended grouping the space close to the facility. Now, 12,500 square feet in two buildings is at the southwest corner of the site.</p><p>In addition to a 137,000-square-foot home-improvement store with garden center at the southwest corner, the plan also calls for a 44,000-square-foot fitness center, currently figured to be a prototype new location for the 24 Hour Fitness club in the city, on the north side of the creek. Also included are 69,000 square feet in a building for major tenants, 14,000-square-foot buildings for a grocer and a pharmacy, two restaurant buildings, a bank building and 20,000 square feet of other shop space in four buildings.</p><p>“Even though these are tough economic times, this redesigned project has brought some top-line tenants,” Mr. Geersten said.</p><p>Lowe’s came on board with the project around the time Downey Savings & Loan started seeking entitlements for it four years ago. The Mooresville, N.C.-based retailer remains interested in Petaluma, despite having opened a store in Cotati to the north several years ago and scaling back planned store openings this year and next, because Petaluma has been traveling to neighboring cities for home-improvement supplies, according to Mr. Geersten.</p><p>The city is set to release a fiscal and economic impact report on Deer Creek Village this month. </p><p>Deer Creek Village is estimated to generate $700,000 a year in sales-tax revenue for the city and employ 500 in retail jobs.</p><p>A City Council public hearing on the Deer Creek Village report is scheduled for May 4. The project is set to be back before the SPARC later that month. The goal is to finish construction in 12 to 18 months and open the Lowe’s store in spring 2011.</p><p>For more information, call 415-693-9000 or visit www.deercreekproject.com.</p>