Hardware store plan OK'd by Menlo Park Hardware store plan OK'd by Menlo Park (May 19, 2004)

** Ace Hardware store, church meeting room could open as early as September.

By Rebecca Wallace
Almanac Staff Writer

Hammers and nails in front, youth and singles groups in back.

Now that the needed City Council approval has been granted, this is what the future of a prime chunk of downtown Menlo Park real estate is expected to look like.

In the 8,255-square-foot space at 700 Santa Cruz Ave. where Menlo Park Hardware stood for decades, plans are moving ahead to fill the front 3,000 square feet with a smaller Ace Hardware store and put a meeting room for the Menlo Park Presbyterian Church in back.

The church, which will hold the master lease, is negotiating a final contract with Ace officials for them to sublease, church business manager Bill Frimel said. Both the meeting room and the store could open as early as September, he said.

Officials at the church, which has about 5,000 members, plan to use the meeting room as overflow space for their youth and singles groups. As many as 150 to 300 people could attend these meetings. But that use would only be temporary, Mr. Frimel said.

The council on May 11 granted the church a five-year use permit for the meeting room. When that period is up, the hope is that the hardware store could grow to also fill the back of the space, Mr. Frimel said.

The church also owns a building at 1111 University Drive and hopes to eventually move the groups there, perhaps also seeking city permission to expand the building, he said.

That transient nature seems to be what netted the church its use permit. While many residents have clamored for the return of a hardware store, several also criticized the meeting room for taking up crucial downtown space that could be filled by a sales tax-generating retail store. Some want the meeting room to be put on a second floor or a side street.

At the May 11 meeting, resident Harry Harrison said downtown's feel of a retail and shopping hub is already slipping away.

"I can't buy underwear, socks or anything else in this town," he said. "I can only eat so many sandwiches."

Councilman Paul Collacchi, who dissented in the 3-1 council vote on the plan (Nicholas Jellins was absent), echoed similar sentiments. "No one here questions the goodness of the social hall," he said. "The real question is, is this the appropriate place?"

The three remaining members of the council, though, agreed that having the meeting room for five years was better than leaving the space vacant.

"This is a creative solution to satisfy a temporary need for the church, and get us a foothold for a hardware store in town," Mayor Lee Duboc said.

The Planning Commission narrowly approved the plan earlier this year, but Mr. Collacchi then successfully urged his council colleagues to collectively appeal the approval to the council.

The commission and council imposed several conditions on the church as part of the plan, all of which church officials agree to, Mr. Frimel said.

They include having the church annually pay the city $16,510, the estimated amount that the space would generate if used solely for retail. Sales tax revenue generated by the hardware store would be subtracted from the payment.

Also, in response to concerns about traffic and loitering, church officials must create a circulation and drop-off/pick-up plan, and a youth supervision plan.

E-mail a friend a link to this story.