This architectural drawing shows the proposed new design for Argonaut Shopping Center. Architect Alex DeLeon describes the design as "reminiscent of Saratoga's old stucco estates."
By Sarah Lombardo
Renovation plans for the Argonaut Shopping Center could be scrapped if the Saratoga Planning Commission and the center's owners can't agree on the design, speculated an architect involved in the project.
Alex DeLeon, of S.J. Sung and Associates, said "there is a real possibility" that Argonaut's owners, Saratoga residents Carole Rodoni and Paul Hulme, could simply opt for repairing the center if their desired design plans can't get approved.
"The shopping center is profitable as is," said DeLeon. "If the owners didn't care, the easy thing to do would be to patch it, paint it and leave it as is."
According to DeLeon, Rodoni and Hulme want to get away from the dark, rundown look the shopping center currently has and give it a more sophisticated, upscale look. A look, he said, that is as much a part of Saratoga as the woodsy, rustic look the Planning Commissioners have said they want for the center.
"Both sides are correct about what is a Saratoga look," DeLeon said. "So the question becomes, what style is appropriate for a building of that size?"
The project has gone before the Planning Commission for design review three times, but has been sent back to the drawing board for changes concerned with colors, landscaping, safety issues and architectural design. Now, the center is slated for more discussion at a study session Jan. 22 between the architectural firm and the city. Rodoni and Hulme said what frustrates them the most is the lack of direction from the commission about what specific changes to make in the design.
"It seems the Planning Commission is unable or unwilling to provide any advice on this," Hulme said. "We're left to guess what they want."
"I think they are well-meaning people, but I think they are overwhelmed with the project," Rodoni said. "I think they are just overwhelmed so they just don't want to do something that anyone will say is bad."
But commissioner Margaret Patrick said the commission has done its job in advising the architects. "We have said that we were uncomfortable with the plans, but we were not willing to design the plans for them."
Rodoni said profit has never been a factor in the desire to renovate the shopping center; she and Hulme just wanted to improve a center at which they have been shopping for years.
"We bought the center not as an investment," Rodoni said. "We wanted to own something in the community that we thought was an eyesore and make it better."
But Rodoni said having the design go back and forth between the commission and the architect is getting expensive.
"Hopefully, this will get through, and if not, we will go the people of Saratoga," Rodoni said.
"We're going back to our plan and take it to the city if we have to," said Hulme, who added that they don't intend to make any more major changes in the plans. "What can we do? We hear something different every time."
Patrick disagreed.
"My understanding is they have been told consistently by the staff what the staff thinks is appropriate," she said. "They have not responded to staff concerns."
But Planning Commissioner Richard Siegfried said he doesn't think that the project is doomed to end in a stalemate.
"It'll get approved eventually," Siegfried said. "Everyone wants to get it done."
The 102,000-square-foot Argonaut Center is one of the city's largest shopping centers, home to Longs Drugs and Safeway.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, January 22, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.