NOVATO ADVANCE
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Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Trader Joe's Developer to buy old Pini site on Grant
The old Pini Hardware store on Grant Avenue may soon be sold to the Prado Group, which developed The Village on Redwood Boulevard and courted Trader Joe's as its anchor tenant.
Soils and other environmental tests have already been performed on the site and plans are being assessed for their feasibility, said Charles “Chip” Young, co-owner of the landmark building.
Dan Safier, president of the San Francisco-based Prado Group, has said he plans a mixed-use project on the 37,000-square-foot parcel at the corner of Grant Avenue and First Street.
Tentative plans call for 10,000 to 15,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor and residences on the second floor. A third floor is also being considered.
No sale price has been disclosed.
If the transaction is successful and Safier wins approvals from the city, the project will be the first new commercial development on Grant Avenue west of Redwood Boulevard since the city embarked on the downtown revitalization project.
The western stretch of Grant has lagged behind Old Town, in part because the street improvements, slow to start and slower to complete, began at the depot end of Grant. With the coming of the Whole Foods Market and condominium project, Old Town is attracting new businesses.
The Pini building is owned by Young and Steve Saunders, who closed its doors in January 2004 in order to move into a larger space in the Nave Shopping Center on South Novato Boulevard.
Saunders and Young initially worked with Main Street Property Services, located in Lafayette, to identify several possible retail tenants for the building. Ultimately, the search was unsuccessful.
One obstacle, Young said, was the dimensions of the building.
“Pini is 100 feet deep, instead of 65 feet, like the other buildings along Grant,” he said. “Dividing the building into several storefronts would result in “long, skinny shops.”
The partners also didn't have the $2 million to $3 million it would take to renovate the old building, Young said.
“We're in our 60s. We sell hardware. We can't wait five to 10 years to see a return on our investment.”
Both owners believe downtown “needs to be a mix to be vibrant - not all service or gift shops,” Young said.
He gives high marks to the City of Novato for its efforts to find the highest and best use for the building.
“We worked very hard with Ron Gerber, the city's Redevelopment director. The city went out of its way to help make it happen,” Young said.
When renovation and leasing began to look less feasible, “our next option was to sell the property to someone who could develop it,” Young said.
Developing the Pini property would be the Prado Group's fourth commercial project in Novato.
The first phase of The Village is comprised of Trader Joe's, a Starbucks and Pharmaca Integrative Pharmacy, set to open this summer.
The second phase of The Village will be 80,000 square feet of retail on the remaining 6 acres north and east of Trader Joe's on Redwood Boulevard.
Also in the works is Atherton Place, 3.6 acres to be home to 59 townhouses and 12,600 square feet of retail condominiums.
In a meeting recently with North Bay business leaders, Safier outlined one vision: three ground-floor shops on the site and residences above. The developer would also be required to provide parking for the project.
“So far, the Prado Group has only conceptual ideas,” said John Williams of Sperry Van Ness Commercial Real Estate Advisors in Novato, who took on the Pini search after Young and Saunders decided to sell.
“This particular developer has a vision. He has a sense of what he would like to see developed there - and he has a lot of experience. He can get things done,” Williams said.
“This will be a catalyst to development on the west side of Grant,” Williams said. “The merchants down there have bemoaned the fact that there hasn't been any anchor on that side of Grant since Pini moved out two and a half years ago.”
A development of retail and residential - from 40 to 50 living units - would comply with downtown's zoning and Novato's Downtown Specific Plan. It would also exemplify the “new urbanism,” in which downtowns are livable, walkable, convenient - and draw people and business in the evenings.
Another neighbor on Grant Avenue, Dr. John Elloway, is planning a similar development on his property.
Pini has been a downtown institution since it was built in 1946, several years after the former Pini building - a grocery store - in Old Town burned to the ground.
By 1947, with the war over, Pini owners Doug Phillips - who had worked for Henry Pini - and partners Baxter Hovis and Clarence Nelson decided to go into the hardware business instead. They opened Pini Hardware that year.
In 1968, they were planning to close the store, but three buyers emerged: Ed Thompson, Tiernan Saunders and Ben Young.
Chip Young and Steve Saunders bought out Thompson's interest in the business in the late 1970s. In 1983, they bought out their parents' shares in Pini.
“Chip and Steve have been very good stewards of their property,” Williams said.
“They fought not to let just anybody come in. It was ‘How do we find the right tenant for this property and not take the first lease dollar who comes in the door?'” Williams said.
“We have lots of property owners in this town who can't afford to wait. It was my listing, but we decided not to lease it out.”
Williams said his friends and clients up and down the street are “very happy something is happening” with the Pini site.
“Pini had 20,000 square feet. It brought thousands of people a week into that store and the periphery. This will be very beneficial to everybody.”
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