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Photograph by Skye Dunlap
A two-story parking garage and ramp, which obscures the entrance to the Sunnyvale Town Center Mall, will be partially torn down as part of a long-awaited renovation project.
Mall renovation approved minus Murphy extension
By Sam Scott
The mall that time forgot is getting some large-scale attention. Tuesday, Sunnyvale's Redevelopment Agency approved an agreement between the city, the owners of the Town Center Mall, and the mall's three biggest stores: Macy's, Wards and Pennys. The okay puts in motion a long-delayed renovation.
Concessions made to the mall's big stores, however, will mean that retail stores will not be permitted on an extension of Murphy Street, which will continue into the mall's parking lot. Jerry Schutte of American Mall Properties says the Murphy Street extension would have had 20,000 square feet of retail.
That expansion of the downtown retail area, which had been a crucial part of the plan, may be revisited in a Phase Two discussion.
The final agreement was welcomed by the mall's owners. "It's a blessing more than anything else" Schutte says.
Vice Mayor Jack Walker says he is very concerned with the decision to go ahead with the new project minus that retail space.
"We assume it's going to be a great boon for Murphy Street," he says. "We may end with an area looking like a big alley way."
David Boesch, Sunnyvale's community development director, says the plans to expand the downtown district into the mall were shelved, after months of negotiations, because Macy's corporate owner--Federated Department Stores, Inc.--objected. As an anchor store, Macy's had veto power over any changes to the mall.
"Macy's has concerns that [retail] might adversely affect visibility from the street," Boesch says. "It was basically easier for them to say 'no' than to work with AMP to find a mutually agreeable solution."
It is expected the changes will revitalize the mall, now struggling with an anemic 76 percent occupancy rate. Following the renovation the "new"mall will be called Silicon Valley WAVE.
The construction will progress in phases, Schutte says. Starting next year, two garages will be built in succession on the site's northeast and southeast corners. The existing parking structure, on Mathilda Avenue, will be cleaved in two, and a pedestrian-only shopping street will be built from Mathilda to a forthcoming 20-screen theater. Schutte says Barnes & Noble and Old Navy have committed to pads on the new shopping street.
Finishing dates are staggered, Schutte says. The first garage could be built as soon as August, Old Navy should open by next Christmas, and the theater by May 2001.
As new construction goes on, the inside of the existing mall will gradually get a face lift, says general manager Ken McGee. "They're going to roll stuff away during the day and roll it back during the night," he says.
Donna Dewey, owner of Donna Did It, a chocolate shop on Murphy Street, says she is looking forward to the extension.
"I think it might be a good thing," she says. "It might tie Murphy more in with the mall. Right now, it's like a separate entity."
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
