North Bay Business Journal
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Monday, June 12, 2006
Prado plans to buy Novato Pini Building
NOVATO – The San Francisco-based developer that landed Trader Joe's in Novato this year plans to buy the former Pini Hardware building downtown.
The acquisition would be the fourth project in Novato for The Prado Group and the second attempt to bring retailers to the building after Pini Hardware relocated in January 2004.
Prado President Dan Safier expects to close escrow in early July on the 20,000-square-foot building at 1107 Grant Ave. He declined to release the purchase price beforehand.
The current owners spruced up the exterior and configured the Pini Building for boutique retailers. Prado likely wouldn't be submitting an application to the city for renovations until late this year, Mr. Safier said.
Alternatives include up to three stories, with 10,000 to 15,000 square feet of retail space at street level and 40 to 50 dwellings above, as allowed for in the Downtown Specific Plan and mixed-use zoning.
"Novato has been successfully attracting tenants but not in the downtown area," Mr. Safier said.
Pini Hardware was the retail anchor of the historical downtown area until it moved to Nave Center several blocks south at 1535 S. Novato Blvd., according to Ken Darth, treasurer of the Downtown Novato Business Association and owner of Rousseau's Framing two blocks west.
Since Pini's move and the planned opening of a Whole Foods Market store east of Redwood Boulevard, placing tenants in 1107 Grant has been challenging, according to city Redevelopment and Economic Development Administrator Ron Gerber.
He connected the current building owners, Steve Saunders and Charles "Chip" Young, with downtown revitalization specialists Lafayette-based Main Street Property Services and toured the renovated building with some of the prospective tenants Main Street attracted.
"Main Street, for a couple of years, did a yeoman's effort to bring in exciting tenants to the building. And they did do that, attracting cafes, independent bookstores, children's clothing and every type of specialty boutique tenant the downtown would be pleased to have," Mr. Gerber said. "Most asked where Whole Foods was going and looked at the condition of surrounding buildings and tenants already here and said they liked the blocks on the other side of Redwood better than here."
Sweet Potatoes, an Albany-based children's clothing store, considered the Pini Building but found more space last year at 857 Grant, just east of Redwood. Three boutique retailers and a pub announced openings in the 800 block of Grant this month.
Other Prado projects in Novato are The Village at Novato, a 100,000-square-foot lifestyle retail center at 7514 Redwood Blvd., and Atherton Place, a 3.6-acre site set to have 59 townhomes and 12,600 square feet of retail condominiums across the street.
The first 20,000-square-foot phase of The Village was finished this year for a 12,000-square-foot Trader Joe's store, which brought companion tenants Starbuck's and Pharmaca Integrative Pharmacy. A project application for the other 80,000 square feet on the nine-acre site is pending and is being positioned for construction in 2007. NAI BT Commercial is marketing the project.
Prado is pursuing entitlements for Atherton Place this year for construction in 2007. That development would have 46 homes at ground level and the rest above the retail space. The townhomes would range in size from 1,500 to 1,900 square feet and likely will be listed for less than $1 million each.
Prado's fourth Novato project is 2.5 acres of vacant land on Diablo Avenue that will be developed with up to 65 residential homes.
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