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City Council approves Town Center revitalization
By KELLY WILKINSON
Despite some opposition, the revitalization of Town Center is officially underway. After a five-hour public hearing on Thursday, the City Council and the redevelopment agency approved the addition of a 20-screen cinema and nearly 200,000 square feet for retail, restaurant and entertainment space at the failing mall.
Councilmember Jim Roberts, who led the motion, said the time has come for a downtown revitalization, and that Sunnyvale should look forward to a unique and identifiable mall--tentatively called the Silicon Valley WAVE (Walk and Entertainment Village).
"We've been trying for years to get someone to redevelop this mall, and if we don't do this, it will fail again," he said.
At the meeting, Roberts acknowledged that most of the negative input from citizens involved increased traffic and noise in neighborhoods near the mall, but offered justification.
"Frankly, increased traffic is the whole idea. Right now, the mall is failing because there is no traffic. And we will do everything we can to mitigate [the increase]."
Councilmember Julia Miller cast the only dissenting vote, saying that although she was in favor of redeveloping downtown, she thought this proposal wasn't suited to the location.
Developer American Mall Properties will remove the center section of the existing mall parking at Mathilda and McKinley avenues to make way for the new pedestrian mall. The project also includes the construction of two new parking structures at the corners of Washington and Sunnyvale avenues and Iowa and Sunnyvale avenues.
Most of the criticism came from residents who live near the mall. Those in opposition recommended keeping the current sluggish mall rather than constructing the theater complex.
Denise Ellestad, a resident of the Heritage Housing District on South Sunnyvale, sharply criticized the proposal as being a careless way to bring more money to the city.
"Movie theaters are a total sell-out," Ellestad said. "It's an easy way to make a buck, and we're doing it for the money at the expense of the residents' quality of life."
There were also concerns about the proposed tower, which will rise 120 feet from base to tip. Architects praised this as a landmark element that will provide a strong visual identification to the downtown.
Ron Harnack took issue with the tower being analogous to village steeples in small Vermont towns, as was suggested by a representative of the architectural firm. He said that those New England steeples were indicative of a town's values, which should not be applied in this instance.
"What does this tower represent?" he asked. "We have an architectural firm telling us what Sunnyvale should mean, when we should be looking to [the City Council] for that."
Several members of the public, tenants in the current mall, and a representative for a senior home came out to support the proposal.
Resident Valerie Millar said that the proposal was a "much more creative way of space utilization."
Construction is scheduled to begin within the next two months, and AMP plans to complete the theater complex, one of the parking structures and the additional retail buildings by late fall.
The estimated cost of the project is almost $100 million, including property acquisition, renovations, additions, and parking structures.
"This is bold and impressive investment by the new owners of the Sunnyvale Town Center that we expect will reinvigorate the heart of your downtown," city manager Bob La Sala said.
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
