Glimmer of Hope For Elk Grove’s Commercial Real Estate
Following two years of bewildering home foreclosures and a high vacancy rate for commercial real estate, one the city’s largest commercial ...
https://www.elkgrovenews.net/2010/01/glimmer-of-hope-for-elk-groves.html
Following two years of bewildering home foreclosures and a high vacancy rate for commercial real estate, one the city’s largest commercial property owners announced the opening of five new retail and office tenants.
According to Jackson Properties, Inc., the company has signed leases for five new tenants at its Laguna Pointe development. Located on the southeast corner of Laguna Boulevard and Stockton Boulevard East, the mixed used development already hosts a variety of businesses including the popular BJ’s Brewery and Restaurant, Hilton Garden Inn Hotel and Edward Jones.
More possible leases despite tough economic times
“The Laguna Pointe project continues to attract new tenants even in an economy that is going through some turbulent times,” President of Jackson Properties John Jackson, Jr. said. “We are in discussions with other potential tenants and will be making more announcements as we sign future leases.”
The five new tenants include Taglio Salon & Spa, East/West Café, Sylvan Learning Center, Dance 2 D Rhythm fitness center and electrical contractor Kirkland & Jones.
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All right -- how exactly is the intersection of Laguna and East Stockton considered mixed use? Is it because our zoning laws permit a restaurant next to a investment brokerage? Next to a hotel?
This is not even close to a real mixed use development. Is it zoned for more than one activity? No. Shopping Center (SC) zone here. Business Park (BP) zone there. Residential is forbidden...it's zoned elsewhere. And the only way to access this mixed use area? By car. No Elk Grovian of sound mind would consider walking the two+ miles from their residential zone along that 10-lane Laguna Freeway to get to BJs. If you did, you'd likely be cast under immediate suspicion.
To be blunt, the author uses the term "mixed used." The sign on the corner of Franklin Blvd. and Florin calls the Southgate Plaza Shopping Center "mix used." No one knows the correct term, let alone understands what it means, but it's thrown out there as if we actually employ it. Elk Grove is completely, 100% devoid of mixed use development, not even Old Town.
Mixed use provides for residential, light industrial, office, and retail to co-exist, ideally providing a light rail or other transit node as well. It is walkable. It's not a panacea to urban design but we don't even have the choice to live in a mixed use development because there aren't any in Elk Grove. The cities that do, the cities that have healthy urban areas are among the most sought after, valuable places in the world.
Tell me that your existing Elk Grovian subdivision will improve with age. That it will be more desirable, not less, to live in in 2027. That the Home Depot at this so-called mixed use interchange won't just abandon the store, build a newer bigger one on Bilby or Kammerer, leaving a ghost box with covenants that prevent competitors from occupying it. It is my belief that Elk Grove is destined to go the way of Valley Hi, Meadowview, and Rosemont (i.e., areas also without a correct mix of jobs/housing) because of the terrible direction we've gone -- cheap buildings, cheap architecture, cheap trees, no places to walk or bike, and someday a cheap open air mall.
We've built a city that is not going to be worth living in in a few decades once the newness of our homes and big box stores fades. There is nothing built with any enduring value, with charm, with the expectation that we will want to take care of places we live. We don't have any jobs here to anchor us, either. We will all sooner elect to leave.
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