Menalto Plaza gets new lease on life Menalto Plaza gets new lease on life (January 25, 2006)

Community efforts help renew run-down business site

By Rory Brown

Almanac Staff Writer

Previously home to abandoned businesses, frequent flooding and even armed robberies, Menalto Plaza -- the small cluster of stores at Menalto and Gilbert avenues in Menlo Park -- has been reborn.

With neighbors, businesses and the city working together, parking lots were repaved and sidewalks improved. Residents of the neighborhood, known as the Willows, contributed $700 to plant trees. The police became involved, and loitering and fears over crime were reduced. And new business has been drawn to the plaza.

"The neighbors demanded action and they got it," said Councilwoman Kelly Fergusson, a Willows resident. "It's safer in all aspects. The circulation is higher -- people walk and bike to and around the site. It's the center of the neighborhood again."

Also referred to as Menalto Marketplace, the plaza has 10 businesses, including Cafe Espresso 1929, Menalto Cleaners and La Hacienda Market.

In March 2002, neighbors organized and drafted a list of improvements they wanted to see at the site.

"We took petitions to city hall, and that's what got us going," said Ms. Fergusson. "It was neighbor-driven from the beginning."

Dave Johnson, the city's business development manager, contacted the plaza's three property owners, who were initially hesitant to invest in large-scale improvements but eventually became a driving force in fixing the plaza.

"This was about bringing stakeholders together to solve a common problem," said Mr. Johnson, who noted that property owner Patrick Farris played a key role, assuring the other property owners the upgrades would pay off.

Mr. Farris and fellow property owners Anatole Zelkin and Ramiro Chavez invested about $30,000 in the plaza, repaving parking lots and extending the main sidewalk, said Mr. Chavez.

The city constructed a separate sidewalk across Menalto Avenue, and will soon add a crosswalk that will connect Oak Court to the plaza.

"We worked with the community and the city to get this done," said Mr. Farris.

In May 2003, Councilwoman Mickie Winkler, also a resident of the Willows, called a meeting at Thermae Day Spa, one of the businesses in the plaza, so people could share their visions of what the center needed.

Ms. Winkler, Ms. Fergusson, Mr. Zelkin and the Menlo Park Chamber of Commerce worked to draw new businesses to the plaza, including the coffee shop, Cafe Espresso 1929, which opened in July 2004.
Crime concerns

A check-cashing operation at the plaza's La Hacienda Market was hit by a string of armed robberies in 2003 and 2004. Neighbors complained that the market wasn't taking effective measures to prevent crime.

Ramiro Chavez, who owns and runs La Hacienda, said improvements have increased foot traffic, and made the plaza a safer place.

"[The property owners] added a new fence to the back of the property, put new asphalt in the parking lot and repaved the sidewalk," said Mr. Chavez. "The neighbors said what they wanted, and we did it."

Mr. Johnson said the private/public relationship behind revamping Menalto Plaza will serve as a model for other projects.

"We plan on looking at the 800 and 900 blocks of Willow Road next," he said. "We want to try and duplicate the success we've had in improving retail on Menalto [Avenue]."

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