Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Cornerstone offers first official boulevard 'node'

By Clarence Cromwell

The Los Gatos Boulevard Plan isn't yet adopted, but developments at the corner of Los Gatos Boulevard and Blossom Hill Road are providing a pretty good picture of what the boulevard will look like if the plan is approved.

The Cilker family got Planning Commission permission Aug. 28 to put a pedestrian-friendly building on the northeast corner of that intersection--at the corner of their Cornerstone Shopping Center and opposite the much-discussed domed building at Byer Center--that will stand close to the curb and bring the boulevard one of its first "nodes."

"People keep asking what is a node and we say, 'I don't know, but I'll know it when I see it.' Well, I think I see it here," Commissioner Mike Abkin said.

An 8,000-square-foot, L-shaped building, the design of which will harken to nearby Cornerstone Shopping Center, will include a pair of courtyards: a slightly sunken one at the point of the "L" and one inside the building's two wings.

The sunken courtyard is supposed to accent the domed building across the street and will be surrounded by carved stone walls and Jacaranda trees.

The Cilkers are following the general idea espoused in the Los Gatos Boulevard Plan. The town hopes to form clusters of businesses and mini-parks at major intersections.

Town officials envision more buildings close to the curb, like the Cilker building and the domed building across the way. They plan to place parking in the rear of new shopping centers, rather than let it separate pedestrians from shops. They are hopeful the plan will encourage residents to stroll to the nearest cluster of shops or at least to visit several shops before they drive away.

The building itself is to be composed of the same northeastern shingles-and-gables design used for Cornerstone.

Officials don't expect any complaints about the size of the building, because it will stand 26 feet tall, shorter than the 36 feet of the Byer Center dome.