RDA to issue request for proposals to develop the site, provide
space for YMCA
Hollister officials are preparing a request for proposal that
seeks a developer for a shopping center and YMCA facility at the
site of the former Leatherback properties along McCray Street and
Prospect Avenue.
A local grocer, however, says the city should reconsider
spending local tax dollars to bring in another out-of-town grocery
chain to compete within a mile or two of existing stores such as
Hollister Super (Baler Market,) Save Mart and Safeway.
The buildings and land owned by the former roofing materials
manufacturer were purchased by the city’s Redevelopment Agency for
$4 million and the structures are being demolished to make room for
future development.
RDA to issue request for proposals to develop the site, provide space for YMCA
Hollister officials are preparing a request for proposal that seeks a developer for a shopping center and YMCA facility at the site of the former Leatherback properties along McCray Street and Prospect Avenue.
A local grocer, however, says the city should reconsider spending local tax dollars to bring in another out-of-town grocery chain to compete within a mile or two of existing stores such as Hollister Super (Baler Market,) Save Mart and Safeway.
The buildings and land owned by the former roofing materials manufacturer were purchased by the city’s Redevelopment Agency for $4 million and the structures are being demolished to make room for future development.
In November, an RDA report said the vacant site “has been sitting vacant, abandoned and under-utilized for three years” and that staff has been meeting with “interested parties” over the past nine months to determine how much interest there is in developing the site.
Representatives of the Mi Pueblo Food Center, whose Web site says it has 14 stores that sell “Latin American food products” throughout Northern California, have been in contact with the city, but RDA Program Manager Bill Chow said no deal has been reached with the chain.
“If we get a proposal from them, then that would be a proposal we’d consider,” said Chow, who said such a chain “would meet the needs of additional segments of the population. Mi Pueblo was one of the interested businesses, but whether the RDA will select that proposal – it has to be the best available.”
Jim Gibson, co-owner of the Hollister Super and Baler Market grocery stores in Hollister as well as Windmill Market in San Juan Bautista, said that while “Mi Pueblo has every right to do business here, it seems a little odd to me that the Redevelopment Agency is involved in bringing another grocer to town.”
“If bringing more retail to town was the answer, then Gilroy wouldn’t have the problems it has,” he said. “If the natural course of economic events brings Mi Pueblo to town, then we’ll deal with it. I told the City Council, acting as the RDA board, that it was a little un-kosher. The RDA seems to me to be using tax dollars that we’ve contributed to try to attract another grocery store. I think Mi Pueblo will come here one way or another, but pick something we don’t have.”
The RDA’s original plan, dated Nov. 18, said the project should include the development of up to 70,000-square-foot shopping center consisting of specialty or grocery store uses as well as an additional 5,000-square-feet of space designated for a community services organization “such as a YMCA-type tenant.”
The proposal also mandated that the YMCA would be allowed to operate in the facility rent-free for five years and that land would be reserved for future expansion of the Y’s facility.
However, the City Council, acting as the RDA board, instructed Chow to revamp the proposal so that the YMCA would be granted use of a new facility for 10 years on the southern portion of the site, near the Bulldog Boxing gym. Scott Fuller, chairman of the YMCA of San Benito County, made the request to double the amount of time the organization would operate there rent-free.
Chow said the RDA board wants the YMCA to be at the Leatherback site, though that could hinge on finding a willing development partner.
“It could be that we get nothing back (when the new request for development proposals is issued), which is my expectation,” Chow said. “We’d then have to re-plan and research the development of that site. If no one submits a proposal, we’d have to re-evaluate the whole YMCA development.”
The redevelopment of the Leatherback site, according to the original request for proposals, “would expand the commercial corridor adjacent to Downtown Hollister and stimulate economic development activities in the City of Hollister. Bringing new businesses to the area, the report said, would increase job opportunities, increase tax revenues and stimulate new economic development activity.
Chow said he expects to issue a revised request for proposals later this month and that the city will give 30 to 45 days for interested developers to reply.
“It’s a lot of moving pieces, so we really need to be careful when we move forward,” he said.
