The Sun
Sunnyvale's Newspaper

City, Dubrovnik fail to reach agreement

By Justin Berton

In an unusual evening of negotiations that included two closed-door sessions, city officials attempted to finalize the purchase of a small patch of downtown land, but failed to do so at the Sept. 22 Redevelopment Agency meeting.

Dubrovnik Associates--owners of a weed-filled lot that stands between the city and its plans for redeveloping the downtown area--earned a one-week reprieve before the city takes legal action to assume the land under eminent domain.

The city originally offered Dubrovnik $1 million in cash for the half-acre lot, but negotiations dropped that number to $875,000 plus incentives--one of which includes demolishing the nearby Hill Building to make way for a parking lot.

More parking space in the area is a major concern for Dubrovnik. The company owns Town and Country Village, and fears that a lack of downtown parking will keep shoppers away during the redevelopment process--and kill the shopping center in the meantime.

Dubrovnik representative Nick Gera also tried to convince the city he can't put a value on his land until councilmembers tell him their plans for parking and traffic in the district. Currently the city is looking into many options to handle the flow of downtown traffic--one of which, Gera surmised, could be closing a street alongside one of the Town and Country buildings.

Gera argued that if the city does this--and pushes parking further away from the shopping center--it would decrease the amount of rent he could charge for those retail spaces.

Another tentative plan is to convert the four-lane Washington Avenue into two lanes going both directions. The extra curb space could be used for at least 30 diagonal parking spaces.

Though Gera approved of the idea of demolishing the Hill Building for parking, he cautioned that if Washington Avenue were converted into a two-lane street, it would slow access to the area and create more problems than solutions.

Gera also maintained that the assessor hired by the city was undervaluing the land.

Once the city acquires the land from Dubrovnik, it plans to sell it to the downtown developer, the Mozart Group, according to a signed contract between the two agencies.

According to the contract, Mozart is willing to pay up to $1,077,000 for the land.

"If somebody is willing to pay that much," Gera said, "then that, to me, is the value of the land."

As Gera stood before the agency answering questions, councilmember Jack Walker took the lead in negotiating point by point with Gera.

Sensing Walker was making considerable progress, city manager Robert LaSala seized the moment and requested that the council adjourn to closed session to draft a list of acceptable conditions.

Bob Stoddard, owner of a restaurant and brewery on Murphy Avenue, agreed with Gera's plea to provide more parking and keep from condensing Washington Ave.

"The thought of turning Washington into a two-lane street is ludicrous," Stoddard said, adding, "You'd be cutting the throats of downtown business owners."

The council went into closed-session shortly before 11 p.m. and returned just after midnight.

Walker announced a list of conditions the city would be willing to offer, then directed LaSala and Gera to meet in their own closed-session meeting to hammer out a deal.

But the two returned 20 minutes later with no agreement in hand, and the agency granted Dubrovnik another week to continue negotiations.

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This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, September 30, 1998.
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