Design changes for Old Town spark debate on original intent
Council set to hear appeal on commission approval
Steamer's seats questioned
By Jeff Kearns
Did Old Town's developers give the town what they said they would? The answer, it seems, depends on who you ask. As the new buildings on the west side of University Avenue neared completion, town officials noticed that what was going up didn't match the plans that were approved in March 1997.
When the planning department raised the issue, the developers applied for approval of the modifications. Planning staff recommended that the application be denied, but on Jan. 27, the Planning Commission approved the modifications, as well as outdoor seating for Steamers.
Now, an Edelen Avenue resident has appealed both approvals to the Town Council, which will take up the matters on March 15.
What's the problem?
According to a planning department report, several doors and windows don't match the original plans. Among other changes to the rear of the building, clear windows were changed to frosted glass; glass doors were converted to solid metal doors, and windows were changed or added.
Old Town's owners, however, say the changes are very minor and that the project isn't finished yet. The problem, the report says, is that the building was supposed to have full, 360-degree architecture, and not present a blank rear wall to the parking lot--like a mini-mall.
"During the architecture and site hearings, the [Planning] Commission made it clear that the west elevation should be designed to include pedestrian-friendly elements compatible with the other elements. The commission did not want the west elevation to appear as the back of a building since it was visible from Parking Lot 6," the report stated.
Stacy Stewart, the neighbor who filed the appeal, says she was upset that the developers had violated what had already been approved.
"I felt they were negative changes," Stewart says. "It looked like there were windows where now it's a blank wall, and there's metal doors that are alley-style."
Stewart says she wants the design to be pedestrian friendly, to draw people into the development. "That was the original intent, that it was going to be a pedestrian area."
At the meeting, developer Ed Storm said that what had been originally promised would be delivered, but his architect, Lewis Albernese, said the changes were being made to accommodate tenant requests.
The construction for the new buildings, delayed by El Niño rains, was turned over to a new contractor in May, and in October, Storm and partner Deke Hunter sold the majority stake in Old Town to Maryland-based Federal Realty Investment Trust, the same firm behind the major redevelopment of the Town and Country shopping center in San Jose.
Storm, who is still a part owner of Old Town, said he wasn't authorized to comment for this story.
Jack Heinemann, Federal's vice president of development services, says he doesn't buy Stewart's assessment of the project.
"Federal's done a lot of urban projects," Heinemann said. "We think it's going to be more of an inviting area instead of a negative. It's a very important connector between Lot 6 and the project, so it's got to be pedestrian friendly.
"It's not a finished project yet, so that's why there's been a lot of confusion," he added.
San Francisco-based project manager Lee Schwager, who was hired in September by Federal to help finish Old Town, says the changes in the rear of the building were requested by tenants.
In addition to Steamer's, The Gap, Gap Kids and Banana Republic are signed up to move into the new building. (Another potential renter, Azadeh, which sells custom-tailored dresses and evening gowns, has been negotiating for a spot since December.)
Schwager says the rear doors were always shown on the plans as solid doors, and the contractors are set "to put opaque glass on the door and frame it so that it has the appearance of a French door."
The Gap requested the changes, he said, due to aesthetic and security concerns; the stock rooms are in the back of the store. In the rear of the Banana Republic store, he says, a clear window was changed to opaque glass because it's a dressing room.
Schwager says most of the doors and windows are below grade anyway, and aren't really visible from the parking lot.
The second application on the agenda at the meeting is for Steamer's Seafood-Grillhouse's new digs across the street, where the owners want outdoor seating. The old building, which the restaurant has occupied since 1982, is to be demolished once the restaurant moves across the street.
The outdoor seating, however, wasn't approved as part of the project, and now Steamers wants to line up tables in the walkway between the two new buildings. Unfortunately, nobody told the town, which was under the impression that the tables would be indoors.
As for Steamer's, Stewart says she has the same problems with using half of the 24-foot-wide walkway as a seating area for the restaurant: it's not pedestrian friendly. "That walkway was not for that purpose, but if half of it is a fish restaurant, you're not going to feel welcome to walk through it unless you're eating there," she said. "[The town] wanted it to be an open pass-through with places to sit that would be a draw through to the University Avenue side of town from the N. Santa Cruz Avenue side."
The Planning Commission approved the seating area, but slightly reduced its length.
At its present location, Steamer's has between 120 and 150 outside seats, depending on the season. If approved, the proposal would give the restaurant 36 outdoor seats in the breezeway, surrounded by a 4-foot barrier which is required by the Police Department for all outdoor seating areas where alcohol is served.
According to Associate Planner Sandy Baily, who's handling the Old Town project, the developers showed the town plans that labeled indoor seating as "outdoor seating," and said the French doors would give it the appearance of outdoor seating. "The assumption was that they wouldn't be in the walkway," she said.
Steamer's didn't participate in the original hearings, but Old Town's architects told the town that the restaurant's "outdoor seating" would actually be enclosed by the building with doors that could open up the building to the outdoors.
Paul Matulich, who owns Steamer's with his brother, Mark, and sister, Linda, says Hunter and Storm told him that the outdoor seating was taken care of, and that he wouldn't need to apply for a new use permit for the seats, which he eventually had to do.
"We were assuming we'd be able to put seats outside because it was the same use permit," Matulich recalls, "but [the planning department] hadn't discussed outdoor seating with Storm because the plans he was showing didn't actually show it."
But now, faced with losing their outdoor seats, Matulich is hinting that he's not going to move--which is covered in his contract with Old Town, which says there has to be a mutually agreed-on plan. "Unless we can come to terms on the design, then basically Steamer's stays where it's at."
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