More large retail projects set to start

[caption id="attachment_89153" align="alignnone" width="500"] Construction is set to begin this spring on an Oliver's Markets store and an office building at the Bell Village development in Windsor[/caption]

It's set to be busy a season for retail construction in the North Bay, with several hundred thousand square feet of retail space nearing completion or about to go into construction in Windsor, Santa Rosa, Petaluma and Napa.Bell Village

In late spring, Bell Village, LP, plans to break ground on the first phase of the 25-acre redevelopment of the Windsorland mobile home park into a mixed-use complex anchored by an Oliver's Markets store in Windsor, according to Komron Shahhosseini, project manager for site acquisition and development for Santa Rosa-based OSL Management, LLC.

Six years in the making, the $150 million-plus project is led by Bill Gallaher, developer of the Oakmont senior community of Santa Rosa and a number of other projects.

In late February, crews started demolishing structures and removing certain trees at the south end of the property, which is located across from Town Hall between Old Redwood Highway and Highway 101. That has 6.3 acres for 77,600 square feet of commercial space in the first phase: a 35,000-square-foot Oliver's store, 18,000-square-foot office building, one with 4,000 square feet of office space above as much retail space and a 2,000-square-foot retail building.

"We're going to start with the commercial space and fill it up and stabilize it," Mr. Shahhosseini said. "Then it will be much easier to find financing, because the value of the multifamily leans on the commercial project."

Originally, Rohnert Park-based Oliver's was going to occupy 22,000 square feet, but the grocer expanded its vision for this, its first location built from the ground up, Mr. Shahhosseini said.

Offices for OSL Management and Mr. Gallaher's other ventures are set to occupy all the office building, the downstairs of which had been proposed as a pharmacy until last year. There are currently up to 40 employees at OSL's current offices in half as much space in north Santa Rosa, and growth is planned with the expansion, Mr. Shahhosseini said.

Oakmont Senior Living builds about five assisted-living communities in California a year, with five under construction now and seven more in the works. OSL Management took over property oversight of facilities about a year ago. The company has about 800 employees at all locations.

Bell Village is approved for 387 stacked flats and townhomes in four-story, 150-unit residential buildings.Deer Creek Village

A Friedman's Home Improvement store is set to open as early as April at the Deer Creek Village commercial development in east Petaluma, according to Greg Geertsen, managing director of developer Merlone Geier Partners.

The 75,000-square-foot store with 20,000-square-foot outdoor nursery and materials yard with a 36,000-square-foot covered lumber shed is the anchor tenant for the 346,000-square-foot retail and office regional center on 36.5 acres between Highway 101 and North McDowell Boulevard.

Hiring for more than 100 employees that store has begun, according to Tony Corsberg, vice president of merchandise and marketing.

Construction is set to start by the end of this month on a 48,000-square-foot fitness center building for City Sports Club, the Northern California arm of Fitness International, also owner of LA Fitness.

Three 5,000-square-foot retail buildings are set to be turned over to tenants in the next few months for improvements. Sonoma-based Mary's Pizza will occupy one. The Habit Burger Grill will go into much of another. Togo's sandwich shop is lined up for the third building.

Sixty-five percent of the project is preleased, according to Mr. Geertsen.Dick's, Target

Construction on the 50,000-square-foot Dick's Sporting Goods store is set to begin in April at the former Los Robles Lodge site in Santa Rosa, according to Brad Baker, president and chief executive officer of developer Codding Investments.

Based on that timing, the store is scheduled to open in March 2015, he said. Codding Construction will be the general contractor.

Pittsburgh-based Dick's opened a Petaluma store last year, one of 558 stores nationwide.

The Santa Rosa project also includes a 2,000-square-foot Patelco Credit Union branch on the 3.5-acre property on Cleveland Avenue just south of Coddingtown regional mall.

 At Coddingtown, the opening for the 155,000-square-foot new Target store has been pushed back to October from July, Mr. Baker said. In addition to relocating tenants on the side of the center that will become an entrance for Target, the mall owners are bringing in new restaurants, including Jack's Urban Eats and Coddingtown Grill, which is set to be renamed.South Napa Century Center

The developers of the 163,000-square-foot South Napa Century Center are preparing to break ground this summer on three roughly 10,000-square-foot retail buildings, according to Joe Fischer, a consultant for Napa-based co-developer Peter A. and Vernice H. Gasser Foundation. Hearn Construction is the other developer.

Construction drawings are being finished for the retail pad buildings, general contractors lined up and design review with city officials is in progress, he said. A key restaurant tenant for one of the buildings is set to be announced soon. It would occupy 6,000 square feet and have seating inside and outside for 150.

The goal is to complete preleasing for the center by this fall and construction a year later.

Another 30,000 square feet in three retail buildings would remain to be built at the center.

Anchoring the center, located between the east bank of Napa River and Gasser Drive north of Imola Avenue, is the Century 12-screen movie theaters, opened in November 2012. A 36,000-square-foot InShape Fitness club and a 115-room Hampton Inn are under construction on the property, set for completion this fall and in mid-2015, respectively.

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