Sunday, October 10, 2010

Update on Pacific Commons: Part 2A

Do you think Planning Commission and City Council should approve Pacific Commons Planning Area 5?

Pacific Commons Planning Area 5
to consider a Planned District Major Amendment (P-2000-214) for Pacific Commons (“Planning Area 5”), a Development Agreement Amendment, a Finding for Concept Site Plan approval, Vesting Tentative Tract Map 8049, and a Preliminary Grading Plan, to allow development of a new 27-acre retail/entertainment district located south of Curie Street (behind Costco and Lowe’s) in the Industrial Planning Area. A Supplement to the Final Environmental Impact Report has been prepared and circulated for this project in accordance with the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
Project Planner - Cliff Nguyen, (510) 494-4769, cnguyen@fremont.gov

Conceptual Site Plan for Pacific Commons Planning Area 5


The project includes a 140,000 square feet Target, 60,000 square feet Cinemark, and 121,000 square feet of retail. This include a drive-through eating establishment like McDonald's.

Possible retail and restaurants that I think might open there (not a fact):

McDonald's or Sonic
AT&T or Sprint
Lane Bryant or women clothing stores
Bank
Fitness
Home furnishing and appliances
Furniture
Salon or barber shop
Shoes like Payless Shoe Source
General merchandise
Spa
Dental Office
Dry Cleaners

City Staff wants those retail in Fremont:

Fuddruckers or Eddie Papa's American Hangout
Mimis Cafe or Macaroni Grill
Sports Basement
Video Only
Nestle Toll House Cafe

and etc.

Do we need those retail and restaurants at Pacific Commons in Fremont or do we need to build a better shopping center or a shopping mall?

From Yelp about Pacific Commons:

Eric W.
Hayward, CA

3/5 stars
This place could have been soooo much better. When it broke ground a few years back, I was elated, thinking they would construct something like the Irvine Spectrum, an enclosed, outdoor, mega-entertainment center complete with bars, movie theaters, and high class restaurants.

Imagine my disappointment when I found out all we got was cheapie, big box retailers such as Old Navy, DSW, Circuit City, and worst of all, Costco! To it all off, the stores are more spread out than Tera Patrick! It's not pedestrian friendly at all. This is suburban sprawl at its worst!

Hopefully that new A's stadium will bring forth some better development around here.
For the time being, the only saving grace is that it at least looks like So-Cal with all the palm trees.

Mister J.

Milpitas, CA

2/3 stars
Other than Costco they should just level this area and make a large park . The retailers here are so boring and uninteresting. Some of the retailers look out of place here. I really don't see anyone going into the stores or restaurants. Maybe just a few from the workers from Costco and Lowe's. The Kohls department store is must be the worst one in the company. DSW has crappy shoes,Circuit City was blown away.Party America,JoAnn,Staples...I doubt I will ever step foot in.

A little further away is a furniture store, bookstore, and other weird places. If not for Costco someone could blow this place up and no one would notice.

Pacific Commons Shopping Center on Yelp
4/5 stars 17 reviews

Irvine Spectrum Center or on Yelp:
4/ 5 stars 196 reviews

From Yelp about Irvine Spectrum Center:

"and when you get bored - there's always the ferris wheel." (in 53 reviews)
"It's a great outdoor mall, with a lot to see and do." (in 28 reviews)
"There is also a really nice movie theater here too." (in 29 reviews)

The Planning Commission meeting will begin at 7 pm on October 14 in the City Council Chambers, 3300 Capitol Avenue.

Coming soon Update on Pacific Commons: Part 2B

6 comments:

C at aroundfremont said...

A bookstore is "weird"? I think that commenter is weird...

I go to Pacific Commons a lot. But I pretty much exclusively go to the same places over and over: Half-Price Books, Prolific Oven, Spicy Town, Cafe Zen, and In-n-Out. The first four are some of the better places to go in Fremont (37 Degrees used to be fun; I'll give the new owners a chance). I occasionally go to Staples, but otherwise give the rest of it a miss. It's generic stuff that the city council and planning commissions seem pretty excited about (tax revenues?) but leaves me pretty bored. Based on the comments I see by @aroundfremont followers, a lot of Fremont shoppers agree: we're sick of banks, big boxes, and going to other cities for non-Asian food and nicer/business dinners (we have great Asian food and great casual restaurants). The only things I'd be interested in adding to Pacific commons are a Whole Foods, a movie theater (maybe in the works, I guess), that Nordstrom Rack (the drive to San Leandro or San Jose isn't my favorite), and, most importantly, new local restaurants to fill the many, many holes in the local dining scene.

Anonymous said...

Nestle Toll House? Really? How about a Peet's or Coffee Been or Illy?

Mimi's Cafe, Macaronni Grill? Really? How about a Yard House or Cheesecake Factory?

Lane Bryant? Really? How about a Zara or Apple Store?

And WE NEED A WHOLE FOODS! Fremont eats healty TOO!

Fremont needs to be a hip, cool place to go to. Fremont is so cookie cutter. Fremont residences have money, but they are spending and eating in other cities because we don't have these stores or restaurants to eat at. I will give props out though to whom ever got Claim Jumpers here.

And please make Part 2A, more pedistrian friendly. Look at Americana and The Grove in LA-they have a great mix of entertainment, restaurants and shops. Make Part 2A, more lush-include a park and a stage for local artists to show their talents.

When I have visitors come to Fremont, I have no where to take them here that is worthy to see-I take them elsewhere. Please don't make Part2A look like Part 1.

Fremont can be a cool place.

Anonymous said...

WHOLE FOODS PLEASE!

Anonymous said...

We need yard house, cheesecake restaurants, mimi cafe, buga de beppo please. Could we have nicer retailers than payless shoes. And nicer bowling place. Other blogger is correct. Could pacific common officier look at irvine spectrum.

cali said...

We need Barns & Nobles or some kinds of these bookstore
In Fremont. We have so many good schools and good students in this city. Those kids need to have a good place to hang out and increase their interest in reading. Besides,
mommy go for shopping, kids go to bookstore with daddy who is sipping coffee, then the whole family meet in one of restaurants for lunch/dinner is what we always do for a typical Fremont family. We don't want to drive all the to Pleasanton or San Jose for this kind of family activities, we want our own community has this kind of activities for us. We definately need a BOOKSTORE! We need to buy books! We need to read!

Anonymous said...

Whole Food (The closet one is in San Jose, pretty far.. we need more healthy food in Fremont!)

Cheesecake Factory

Pasta Market (or other stores similar to the ones in San Jose Market!)

More Asian restaurants since Fremont has a high Asian population

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