NORTH BAY BUSINESS JOURNAL EVENT

Best Places to Work 2008 Awards Reception

September 25, 2008, 5:30-7:30 p.m., Doubletree Hotel, Rohnert Park

2008 Going Green Conference: Building, Technology & Practices

Thursday, October 9, 2008, 7:30-11:45 a.m., Doubletree Hotel, Rohnert Park

E-Mail Express

Name:

Company:

E-mail:

Phone:

Novato shopping center to get $7 million overhaul

SAFEWAY ANCHOR STORE TO RELOCATE IN AUGUST

NOVATO, July 10, 2008 -- The 40-year-old Pacheco Plaza neighborhood shopping center is set to get a $7 million overhaul starting next month to prepare the property for a new anchor tenant when the current anchor, a Safeway grocery store, prepares to relocate in late August to a development on the east side of the highway.

Over the next 17 months the 77,400-square-foot shopping center on Ignacio Boulevard will be getting a new roofline and a courtyard with fountain for community events such as a farmer's market, according to project manager Megan Gast with property owner Walter Kieckhefer Co. LLC. The center will remain open during construction.

"The center was built in the late 1960s and was well-maintained over the years," she said of Walter Kieckhefer Sr.'s construction of the shopping center. "We wanted to give it an updated look. The architect came up with a design that will have lasting appeal."

David Saunders of Daniel Macdonald Architects of Novato was the lead architect on the project. Nordby Construction of Santa Rosa is the general contractor.

Main Street Property Services of Lafayette is marketing the center to prospective anchor and supporting tenants. Though the ownership is looking to bring in upscale retailers such as a spa and restaurants, the goal will remain to have local services such as a shoe repair shop, according to Ms. Gast.

Safeway will be the anchor tenant at Grosvenor's Hamilton Gateway retail center on Nave Drive on the east side of Highway 101.

Walter Kieckhefer Co. LLC has developed 1 million square feet of office and light-industrial space in Tempe, Ariz., since the mid-1980s.

Book of Lists Online