Gilroy
– California’s leading mall developer plans to convert 119 acres
of east Gilroy farmland into an outdoor shopping paradise.
Gilroy – California’s leading mall developer plans to convert 119 acres of east Gilroy farmland into an outdoor shopping paradise.
Representatives of Westfield Corporation unveiled conceptual plans Monday for a shopping center with a pair of traditional main streets, each capped at the north and south by national retailers. Smaller stores, a movie theater, restaurants and a park will round out the “lifestyle center” Westfield hopes to build just east of the Gilroy Premium Outlets.
“This is an introduction to our concept and Westfield’s way of thinking,” spokeswoman Katy Dickey said a few days after presenting plans to city council members. “We believe this is the first of what will be many discussions in the future. Certainly there will be challenges ahead for all the stakeholders, but we see this as a great opportunity for Westfield and the city.”
The 1.5-million-square-foot shopping center would dwarf the combined area of the two big-box shopping centers on Pacheco Pass, and would boost the city’s allure as a regional shopping Mecca. The Pacheco Pass centers poured more than $3 million into city coffers last year, and the prospect of another major cash infusion could prove tantalizing for city leaders anxious to find millions of dollars to fix cracked sidewalks, clogged storm drains and rundown alleys.
Westfield may need more than revenues, however, to eclipse worries about traffic snarls and the city’s historic downtown, just now recovering from two decades of decline.
“Any time you have another place people can go, it will compete,” Mayor Al Pinheiro said. “It will be up to the people in downtown to provide a place where people want to go … I’m not in the business of protecting individual (merchants), but we’ll do what we can to make sure downtown does well.”
In addition to easing concerns about downtown and traffic, Pinheiro said the mall developer must tackle a major planning effort for all 660 acres between the Gilroy Premium Outlets and Llagas Creek. The area known as the “660” – which includes the land slated for the mall – inspired one of Gilroy’s fiercest land use battles of the past decade.
City leaders defied local environmentalists and regional land use officials in 2002 by folding the land into Gilroy’s 20-year growth boundary. The decision opened the door for development, but on the condition that no development could proceed without a comprehensive plan for all 660 acres. The land was also reserved for technology firms and other high-paying employers, meaning council members will have to rezone the property for commercial use.
Westfield has agreed to finance a full-time city planner to steer the project through a complex regulatory process at the hands of city leaders and regional land use officials.
On Feb. 26, city staff members will present an overview of the planning process and timeline involved in creating the mall.
Of the 120 malls Westfield operates throughout the world, nearly a quarter are located in California, making the company the biggest mall operator in the state, Dickey said. The company hopes to start construction on its Gilroy facility by 2010.
Serdar Tumgoren, senior staff writer, covers city hall for The Dispatch. Reach him at 847-7109 or [email protected].
