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Commercial Real Estate: Napa OKs north-end retail; new look for Marin center

ALSO: COULD PARKING LOTS BECOME A SOURCE OF ENERGY FOR BUILDINGS?

The Napa Planning Commission recently approved a 29,250-square-foot neighborhood shopping center at 1703 Trancas St., situated on 3.5 acres at the southwest corner of the intersection with California Boulevard.

Pacific Properties Group of Chico wants to build a three-building center there. The company has registered the project, called Napa Crossing, with the U.S. Green Building Council for certification under the group’s core-and-shell category of its Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design green-building rating system.

The company also has a 1.5-acre project across California Boulevard to the east. It would entail a remodel of the existing 14,000-square-foot Kragen Auto Parts store and construction of a 4,000-square foot free-standing building at the corner of California Boulevard and Permanente Way.

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The first phase of the $7 million project to update another four-decade-old Marin County shopping center has begun. Walter Keickhefer Co. LLC built the 77,400-square-foot Pacheco Plaza center on Ignacio Boulevard in 1967 and now has commissioned work to modernize the center with a new look and environmentally friendly features.

General contractor Nordby Construction of Santa Rosa has started work on removing the facade and canopy on the center and replacing it with an architectural steel entry, metal trellises and new courtyard, with lighting powered by photovoltaic panels installed by SolarCraft of Novato.

The center will remain open throughout construction, which is expected to be complete in November 2009.

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The Sonoma County Water Agency is studying ways to use ground-source heat pump loop technology to warm and cool commercial buildings and homes near its wastewater treatment plants north of Santa Rosa and south of Sonoma to reduce energy usage. And perhaps the acres of asphalt in parking lots around those commercial buildings may one day do the same, according to new research from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and the University of Massachusetts.

Paving is a common culprit for localized climate change because the sun’s heat is absorbed into concrete and especially asphalt and radiated at night. Commonly used green-building standards call for limiting paving or using lighter-colored options for this and other reasons.

Yet Massachusetts-based Novotech, which supplies optics and substrates for the photonics, semiconductor and solar industries, patented a process for embedding tubing in asphalt to efficiently transfer heat absorbed in the surface to fluid in a loop connected to heat exchangers for producing electricity. The concept is to draw the stored heat away from the pavement for use in energy rather than allowing the pavement to radiate the heat during the day as well as at night, something photovoltaic systems can’t do.

The inventors contacted scientists at the institutions to test the effectiveness of various configurations of aggregate – quartzite-type rock conducts the most heat – and heat exchangers.

Under lab heat lamps and in daylight-wind tests, the researchers found that the highest heat concentration is a few centimeters into the asphalt, where the heat exchanger was placed.

“Because of truck traffic and high speeds, we have avoided roads and are focusing on the use of parking lots only,” said Rajib Mallick, one of the researchers from the institute. That may not be a problem because it also resolves the issue of long lengths of tubing.

The research was published in conjunction with a meeting of the Association of Asphalt Paving Technologists in August.

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As part of a major project to convert the 775,000-square-foot enclosed Mall at Northgate in San Rafael into a 725,000-square-foot open-air “lifestyle center,” the shopping center owner plans to seek certification for green-building practices and systems used in the endeavor.

Santa Monica-based Macerich, which has a stake in 72 regional malls nationwide, wants to have the project certified under the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design core-and-shell rating system. The four-decade-old Northgate mall would be the first of several new and redeveloped centers Macerich wants to be LEED-certified and part of a companywide shift toward more environmental sustainability and energy-efficiency.

Elements of the Northgate renovation project that could fulfill criteria for certification include a goal of recycling 75 percent of the safe construction and demolition waste, including reuse of wood and concrete, as well as energy-efficiency upgrades that are becoming commonplace in new construction, such as white foam roof coatings and better heating and cooling systems. Rolling glass doors that will keep out the winter elements plus automated windows in the clerestory are designed to reduce the need for summer cooling.

The Northgate mall is remaining open during the project, which is set to be complete with store openings of new retailers in fall 2009.

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The Hayward-based Mervyn’s chain of department stores, which has locations in Fairfield, Vallejo, Napa, Santa Rosa, Petaluma and San Rafael, announced plans to shut down all 175 of its stores in seven states as part of its Chapter 11 reorganization plan. The Fairfield and Napa stores were among the first 30 stores slated for closure by the end of this year.

Los Angeles-based clothing chain Forever 21 earlier this month publicly expressed interest in acquiring up to 150 Mervyn’s locations.

This announcement came at the same time New Jersey-based housewares retail chain Linens ‘n’ Things, which has a store in Rohnert Park, announced it would shut down.

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Submit items for this column to

Jeff Quackenbush at 707-521-4256, jquackenbush@busjrnl.com or fax 707-521-5292.