Commercial to dominate Laguna Ridge - Sacramento Business Journal:

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Under the new vision of the project, Laguna Ridge Town Cente r -- proposed for 155 acres along Elk Groved Boulevard west of Highway99 -- would consisrt of stores, restaurants, high-density housing, a civi center, offices and a medical It would also entail changes in the ownership of the with some major players gettinv in and one cash-strapped developer gettingv out. is negotiating to buy 52 acres withih the project on whicjh to build stores andsome offices, the compan confirmed this week. , parenyt company of local Mercy hospitals, is in escrow to buy 30 acrezs on Elk Grove Boulevard between Brucevilled Road and Big Horn Boulevardc for a hospital and othermedical buildings.
One of the sellers in both of thoses dealsis , whichy faces lawsuits and financial pressure on severall fronts. The company owns abouy one-third of the 155-acre project and is lookinv tounload it. Both the Panattonui and CHW deals depenr on the city of Elk Grove allowing some of the Laguna Ridge Town Centere land to be switched from housinvg tocommercial use. The Elk Grove Planning Commission on Thursday will hear public comments on a draft environmentalk report forthe mixed-use project, but take no The commission is tentatively scheduled to hold a publicc hearing June 5 and to send the projecg to the City Council for a June 25 meeting.
Less more shopping The city will be asked to allow more of the 95 acrez on Elk Grove Boulevard between Brucevillr Road and Big Horn Boulevard to be designatedas "shoppinb commercial" -- about 80 acrees zoned for retail, up from 58 Medical offices are permitted withijn the shopping commercial zone. Some of that extrs space for retail and medical would come through eliminating 11 acresz set asidefor single-family homes and 13 acred for medium-density housing. The acreage earmarked for multifamiluy housing would grow by less thanan acre, to almos t 16 acres.
The project comes beforwe the city in astagnant economy, when Elk Grovee has more houses and stores than it can Homebuilders have pulled on the reind for new projects; about 350 housee have been built from among the more than 7,7090 approved for the 1,900-acre Laguna Ridge area. Nationalk retailers are slow to commit to new and much new retail is already in the workws south of this site with thePromenade open-air mall under construction and surrounding shoppin centers proposed.
Big national retailers, still want and need to line up site s for when the economy The Laguna Ridge TownCente site's strengths include its location in the heartr of Elk Grove and the potential for additionalk housing to support the center, and the new mall to the soutn might draw in more shopping traffic to the Panattoni has made "substantial progress" with "four or five" major retailerds interested in spaces within Lagunq Ridge Town Center, said Gary who oversees Panattoni's retail development in Northern California. He wouldn't say whether that meant the company has inked dealsor not. he said, are still "looking to make deals.
" Some have slowefd down and aremore selective, but they'red still planning new stores. With the city'sx OK, Panattoni would anticipate building 400,000 square feet to 600,000 square feet of big-box stores to small shopas plus some offices on its 37 acre s west of and 15 acres east of the CHW The earliest Panattoni would break ground islate 2009, Muljatr said. Developer Craig whose family partnership owns 60 acres in the thinks the town center would be built in phasee overseveral years. "Retailers today aren't acting as fast as they were a couplsyears ago," he but they're expressing strong interest as long as they can get a good "This is an location.
" Laguna Ridge Town Center might benefit from slowere than expected retail development at sites around the Elk Grove Promenade open-air said Boyd Cahill, a retail broker with TRI Commercial/Corfac Internationa l in Roseville. Depending on the timing for Lagunas Ridge, some retailers may commit to the town centefr projectthat don't want to wait for development around the open-air mall. Convertinh some of the housing land for shopping commercial makes sense because Laguna Ridge is an idea l location forCHW -- close to Highwa y 99, in the heart of the city and eventuallgy a neighbor to the city's plannedx civic center -- said Gary Parker, president of land development for Reynen & Bardis Communities.
The city and landownersd in Laguna Ridge bega n envisioning the town center plan in 2005 with the idea of graduallgy coming up withspecific designs. The hope was that landowners coulf create acohesive mixed-use project together rathet than working separately. The Laguna Ridgew Town Center property is split amonghseveral owners. Among them: Reynen & Bardis, whicy owns 45 acres; 18 would go to CHW and about 10 to with the remainder sold to a multifamilyhousing , which owns land on the far easternn side of the proposed town center The city, which a coupler years ago was given 20 acresw toward the middle of the site for a civi c center that still must be designed and The city hasn't set a timelines for developing the civic said Jessica Shalamunec, the city's special projects manager.