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Uploaded: Wednesday, November 18, 2009, 11:05 AM
Bohannon office/hotel project too big? Not necessarily, Menlo Park City Council says
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Menlo Park's City Council directed the city to enter into negotiations on the "Menlo Gateway" office/hotel project proposed by the Bohannon Development Co. at its meeting Tuesday, Nov. 17, setting the stage for a final vote on the project in spring 2010.
The council could have asked the developer to scale back the size of the buildings and parking garages on the site near Marsh Road and Bayfront Expressway before beginning negotiations.
But council members unanimously said that the large size of the project would not in itself be a deal-breaker. Of more concern are carbon emissions and traffic that would be generated by the project, they said.
The project would include an 11-story hotel, three eight-story office buildings, a restaurant, a health club, and various retail operations for a total of about 950,000 square feet. It would also include over 800,000 square feet of parking garages.
The council gave general guidelines for the city to consider as it enters into negotiations. Among other things, council members said they would like the city to ask the developer to identify land on which to build below-market-rate housing, to guarantee a certain amount of annual revenue to the city, and to pay for a variety of public benefits.
At the meeting, City Attorney Bill McClure cautioned that the council's decision to enter into negotiations should not be construed as a promise to approve the project.
Councilman Andy Cohen was absent from the meeting.
■ Touchy debate over polarizing Bohannon project.
■ Dreams of revitalization in Belle Haven.
■ Perceived benefits a fantasy, critics say.
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Posted by Interested in Progress, a resident of the Menlo Park: Downtown neighborhood, on Nov 18, 2009 at 5:32 pm Congratulations to our council for accurately gauging the sentiment of the public and moving forward on this project. Now let's hope they don't try to stop it on the bogus grounds that car trips are part of its carbon footprint.
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Posted by opposed to giveaways, a resident of the Menlo Park: Allied Arts/Stanford Park neighborhood, on Nov 18, 2009 at 7:06 pm The Council blew it. The developer knows how to play the game - ask for more than you want so you have room to negotiate. The Council basically just said OK.
For all the development, very little produces revenue for the city and there are huge impacts. The project should be smaller and the community should get a lot of benefit for all the windfall of this giveaway.
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Posted by Bill, a resident of the Menlo Park: Downtown neighborhood, on Nov 19, 2009 at 9:21 am How can the City move forward if we stay stuck in this rut? All one has to look at is El Camino and see the number of "new businesses" or better yet the number of buildings that have been vacant for how many years. If the City wants to generate revenue, what will it take to get a revenue generating business to come to Menlo Park. Stop putting up so many road blocks. Sometimes to get what we need and want we must compromise.
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Posted by opposed to giveaways, a resident of the Menlo Park: Allied Arts/Stanford Park neighborhood, on Nov 19, 2009 at 11:03 am Bill - the current rut is largely due to the slump in the credit and real estate markets. Some major projects have been approved along El Camino, but the largest problem is Stanford property and they have stated their intention not to do anything for several years.
This thread is about the Bohannon project. Only a small portion of this enormous project will generate sales tax or hotel tax revenue for the city. Other cities, including our own, have approved hotel projects without so much other other buildings and impacts. Why approve this one? It isn't worth it as proposed.
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Posted by L Luciano, a resident of the Menlo Park: University Heights neighborhood, on Nov 19, 2009 at 1:39 pm Annex unincorporated Redwood City and elect Paul Collacchi to the City Council.
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