PA 14-103 Hillsdale Shopping Center North Block Redevelopment Preliminary Application Meeting notes from Neighborhood Meeting held 1/12/15 SPEAKERS: Tricia Schimpp, Project Planner, City of San Mateo Ms. Schimpp gave a brief overview of Bohannon Development Company and the North Block project at Hillsdale Shopping Center. Additional information on the current project is available on the City of San Mateo website. The purpose of this meeting is to gather information from the community prior to the study session. San Mateo residents may contact Tricia for additional information regarding the project. Robert L. Webster, President, Bohannon Development Company Mr. Webster introduced the group making the presentations and gave a brief history of Hillsdale Shopping Center. Slides included 1954 Construction, 1960 Open-air Shopping Center, 2013 Cheesecake Factory, Forever 21, H & M. Major department stores anchoring Hillsdale Shopping Center are Macy s and Nordstrom. The focus of North Block redevelopment plan will be on food, entertainment, and fashion. Bob presented a description of the proposed site and reviewed the previous plans with Cinepolis and Target in the Cost Plus and Sears locations. The major concerns regarding the earlier plan were traffic and the position of the theater near residential neighbors. Under the new plan the Cinema has been relocated to El Camino Real, and bowling, bocce ball, and fitness club have been added, along with restaurants and lifestyle tenants that prefer open-air Centers. The North Block is not successful at this time. Adrian Mijares Elizondo, Cinepolis Cinepolis was founded in 1971 and is currently in 11 countries. It is the premier theater chain in the world. Cinepolis entered the USA in 2011 with 5 theaters in Southern California and envisions Northern California as their next market. 70% of tickets are sold online. This theater will have 10 screens and seating for 800 guests. This theater has far less seats than a conventional theater and will generate far less traffic. There are no long lines, all seats are assigned and purchased with reservations. Alcohol is limited to 2 drinks per person during a movie in current operations.
Sean Slater, AIA, ELS Architects The North Block redevelopment is designed to meet the Northern California lifestyle. The food court will be an enclosed glassy area located above 31 st Avenue. The group reviewed slides and a description of each of the proposed areas in North Block was given. The North Block is designed to be a community meeting place for residents of the Peninsula for fine dining, entertainment, and shopping creating a sense of neighborhood. The square footage of this plan is similar to the existing square footage and this is not a significant expansion of the Center. Questions & Answers: Question: Where will employee parking be during the holidays? Answer: In the upper and lower farthest North portions of the North Deck parking structure. Question: The theater will generate more traffic in the neighborhood. How will we keep customers from parking on neighborhood streets? Answer: Hillsdale s parking is abundant and is closer in proximity to the theater. It doesn t make sense for customers to park farther away from the theater. We don t believe this will be an issue. We will look into closing the North Deck ramp at 30 th Avenue to through traffic at 6:00 p.m. Question: Will you improve the ramp to the upper North Deck near Outback? It is dangerous because there are no walkways. Answer: We are aware that there are issues in that area and we plan to improve the ingress and egress in the area near Outback Steakhouse including pedestrian pathways. Question: What about lighting on the North Deck and how it will affect the neighbors at night? Some lights shine directly into their windows. Answer: New lighting will be installed and we will consider ways to deflect that lighting away from our neighbors. We will be adding more landscaping to the parking structures. Question: Currently the upper level parking structure is used for donuts on the upper deck. How will we prevent this? Answer: If the parking lot is filled with parked cars, no one will be able to do donuts. Question: How many more people per day will be drawn to the North Block project? Answer: We cannot predict but expect there will be some increase. We also expect that most traffic to the theater to ingress from El Camino Real to the North Deck and not primarily from the West through the residential neighborhood. There will also be ingress near the Wells Fargo Bank on El Camino Real and at 31 st Avenue. The ingress on El
Camino Real will be upgraded and improved with new landscaping and signage. A new service corridor will be built below North Block to service these tenants and to keep delivery trucks off the surface streets. Question: Will there be overflow parking on the neighboring residential streets during the holidays? Answer: We do not anticipate parking issues on neighboring streets. We have adequate parking. Photos have been taken (on the busiest days of the year) of our parking structures and parking has been available. The lots have not filled up and there is always available parking on the upper lots. Question: Are there any plans to improve pedestrian pathways on the upper and lower North Deck? Answer: We need to examine improving walkways to the local residential neighborhood through the parking lots. We will look into making crosswalks more visible. Crosswalks on 31 st Avenue need to be improved. We will improve the crosswalks. We will also install new vertical transportation, such as elevator, escalator, and stairs on the North parking structure. Question: Who are the secured tenants for North Block? Answer: We have identified tenants but have not signed agreements yet. We want to secure the best tenants for these spaces. Lifestyle tenants are upscale but not necessarily luxury tenants. Question: Will there be a drop-off area to the Cinema? Answer: Yes. We also plan to install more facilities for bicycles. Question: What time will the cinema close? Answer: On Sunday through Thursday we typically close around midnight. On Friday and Saturday it will close around 1:30 am. Question: When will you start on this project? Answer: Provided we have all our plans approved by the City, we expect to break ground in the Spring of 2016 and open portions of North Block by Fall of 2017. Question: What is the targeted market for North Block? Answer: The target is generally 34 44 year old females. There will be activities for younger and older customers. No teen shops are expected on the North Block. Question: Will there be a limit to the height of Shopping Center buildings near the residential neighborhood?
Answer: Yes. The existing Nordstrom building will be the tallest building. The Outback/Cost Plus building at the Western façade is not increasing in height. Question: When will the grade separation at 31 st Avenue happen? Answer: We do not know. Our project is ahead of the grade separation being installed. Question: Will parking access off El Camino Real be better marked? Answer: Yes. We are looking at ways to best announce the location and access to parking and ways to get customers into parking easily. Question: Will two level parking structure remain? Answer: Yes. We have surplus parking on North Block. We will use portions of the deck for employee parking. Question: Are changes proposed at the intersection of Edison and 31 st Avenue? Answer: Not to the basic layout. The 5-way stop will remain. We are looking at changes on our property that can be made to help traffic flow and function better at that intersection. Comments from Audience: Neighbors are generally excited about the new changes compared to the last plan. Neighbors are pleased that their comments regarding the placement of the theater were taken into consideration. Neighbors would like to see improved security in the North parking structure, which is planned. Neighbors enjoy walking to the Center but are concerned about additional traffic. Neighbors are concerned that there is not enough parking for a theater. We just want to say the plants and flowers are great at Hillsdale and we are excited to see new restaurants that we can walk to coming to Hillsdale. General Comments: Deliveries to the project will continue via the subterranean tunnel below the Center. Different peak time of use by the various tenants will spread out the parking impact.
The bridge over 31 st Avenue will not be expanded. It will be glass to the east and north elevations. The food terrace will be located there. The buildings will not exceed the City s Height Limitation Standards for the site. Comments by Ron Munekawa, Chief of Planning, City of San Mateo: The Bay Meadows Development Agreement analyzed grade separations at both 31 st Avenue and 28 th Avenue. These grade separations would relieve traffic of Hillsdale Boulevard. Further study of anticipated traffic impacts from this project will be analyzed as the process continues. We are only at the pre-application stage. The Planning Commission will review the project in early February. We will prepare answers to the questions they have. Bay Meadows will have 900 housing units.