New urbanism would be a fit for downtown industrial zone
On the east side of Hollister there is a fading, blue metallic
building. It hums with activity, though little noise is audible
from outside. There aren’t any signs on the building other than a
Leatherback turtle that adorns a wall at the corner of McCray and
Fifth streets. There is a sickly, sweet smell in the air of tar and
ink.
New urbanism would be a fit for downtown industrial zone
On the east side of Hollister there is a fading, blue metallic building. It hums with activity, though little noise is audible from outside. There aren’t any signs on the building other than a Leatherback turtle that adorns a wall at the corner of McCray and Fifth streets. There is a sickly, sweet smell in the air of tar and ink.
Soon sounds will be gone and the smell in the air will disperse. For more than 50 years, Leatherback has been a manufacturer of treated felt paper. But in a recent press release, the parent company, GAF Industries, announced they would be closing down because of a declining market and competitor growth.
Dave Huboi, chairman of the Hollister planning commission and a local architect, has toured part of the Leatherback property and had a few thoughts on what the property could be used for once Leatherback is gone.
There are currently three structures on the property along McCray Street, two buildings and one factory.
“The spatial envelope of the property is very interesting,” Huboi said. “And fun to look at. The property is zoned for mixed-use so I would envision a residential component to whatever they [the property owners] do with it.”
However, if the property were developed for mixed-use housing Huboi saw several issues he would want addressed.
“We’d definitely have to address the traffic noise,” Huboi said. “But I think that the bypass might help divert some of the traffic away from McCray Street. I also anticipate they would likely need to add a sound wall and perhaps if they added an interior courtyard they could incorporate a water feature that would also help conceal traffic noises.”
A place for new urbanism
Tony Ruiz also sees potential in the property. He is a local spokesperson for new urbanism – a type of architecture based on principles of planning and architecture that work together to creprised. Since the announcement was made, he’s had at least 10 people approach him asking what he’d like to see happen to the property.
The size of the property and its proximity to downtown are what fill it with potential. The Leatherback factory is located at 901 Prospect Ave. on 3.3 acres of property and the warehouse is located at 111 Hillcrest Road on 3.1 acres of property. The factory location is a few blocks from downtown and according to Ruiz could be a site of new urbanism in Hollister.
The location is directly across from several highly commercial shopping centers, including the Save Mart Supermarket and located a few short blocks from Downtown.
“I think that people in this town are starting to realize that sprawl does not pay for itself,” Ruiz said. “I think we’re finally at a point where builders and designers and investors are all on the same page. The hardest sell is for people to understand that the city cannot sustain itself. We need progressive growth. We need infill, and Leatherback is exactly the type of infill we need. The land is already there.”
Ruiz said he is hopeful when the Hollister Downtown Association members start working on their Downtown master plan, they will include the factory property.
“Now the property is offering us another opportunity. We need to look at how this fits with the downtown.”
Brenda Weatherly, the executive director of the Hollister Downtown Association, cautioned property owners would need to be on board with any future plans for development.
Economic impact
Even with the opportunity for redevelopment of the land, Al Martinez, executive director of the Economic Development Corporation of San Benito County said the closing of the plant would affect some Hollister residents.
Leatherback had a solid workforce somewhere between 60 and 80 employees, according to Martinez. Most of the employees had been with the company longterm and it was a mature workforce union shop, so the wages were likely good, Martinez said.
“Like when any business closes there will be an impact felt,” Martinez said. “Leatherback was a small company in the scheme of things, but with a mature workforce the economic impact is bigger.”
According to a press release, GAF will offer the non-union employees severance packages and will meet with the employee unions to negotiate a severance pay and other issues.
Remodeling industry zones into mixed-use retail and commercial has been done before. Recently South County Housing – a nonprofit builder of affordable housing in Santa Clara, San Benito, Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties – undertook a similar project in Gilroy.
On the northeast corner of Downtown Gilroy, a warehouse and packing sheds sat closed for more than a decade. Known first as the Felice and Perelli Canning Company, the operation was known as Gilroy Canning when it closed its doors.
Old doors reopened
Now the 13-acre development simply called the Gilroy Cannery is beginning to blossom, according to Senior Project Manager Nancy Wright. Buildings have come down, mounds of dirt fill parts of the property and at one corner single-family homes have “sold” signs in the windows as the last touches are being put on the houses.
“I love this project,” Wright said. “We went into escrow and retained a company, Urban Design Associates to create a vision for our project. We chose them, in part, because they’re good at infill. The vision came from them to do the mixed-use development with a mixed product type, including airspace type condos. With traditional condos, the tenant owns the real estate, but with these there is no land, only air.”
The full plan calls for 210 homes spread out over three developments with 45,000 square-feet of commercial space.
It was fortunate the good will of the seller factored into the selling price, Wright explained.
The demolition of the cannery cost nearly $1 million, however. SCH was able to salvage much of the facility and will reuse much of the recycled concrete and lumber in the new development.
One issue that came up early in the project was environmental cleanup since the project would be converting from an industrial use to a commercial and residential use. While contamination is an issue, there are a lot of programs available to help with the costs of cleaning up the land, Wright said.
Future assessments would determine the amount of cleanup needed if Leatherback were to be redeveloped, Huboi said.
Like Gilroy’s cannery, Leatherback provided jobs to Hollister residents for decades – it has been open for 56 years. And like Gilroy’s cannery, it could provide a perfect locale to add new residential and commercial space close to Downtown Hollister.
