Vacant office park gets big revamp; senior living planned
By Joseph Geha
jgeha@bayareanewsgroup.com
LIVERMORE >> A South Livermore office park that has sat vacant for nearly a decade is expected to see new life early next year following a renovation and the city allowing a broader mix of businesses there. After two redevelopment plans were rejected over the past several years at the site, formerly known as the Sunset Office Plaza, six of the 10 buildings have been renovated and rebranded as The Well at Sunset.
Meanwhile, the city approved plans to demolish the other four buildings on the northern portion of the site and put up a 128-unit senior living facility. Construction could begin in late 2022, according to city reports and one of the developers.
The former office park, owned for decades by the Mehran family’s San Ramon Sunset Development Co., has been vacant since about 2013. That company’s varied plans for homes, an office building and town houses on the site were rejected by the city in 2014 and 2015, in large part because of pushback from some residents.
The property, at Holmes Street and Concannon Boulevard with 10 buildings on about 14 acres, was built in the 1970s. It was purchased in 2018 by Mana Investments of Carlsbad and Hunter Street Partners of Minneapolis.
The new owners gutted buildings on the southern portion of the site, revamping them with new facades; upgrading air conditioning and heating; and installing fiber-optic connections, bigger windows and new roofs. They also repaved parking lots and added more landscaping, according to Orville Power of Mana Investments.
But despite the renovations, demand for traditional office space has been soft, in part because of the pandemic, city officials said.
“Since renovation, the buildings have remained unoccupied despite significant investments in the buildings and site upgrades,” KamPurewal, an assistant city planner, said at theNov. 8 City Council meeting.
The office park’s current zoning of commercial office space offered a “limited range of permitted land uses,”
The Well at Sunset complex is seen from this drone view in Livermore on Nov. 11. The former shopping center along Concannon Boulevard near Holmes Street is being remodeled. Part of the site will become a senior assisted-living facility.
JANE TYSKA — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
making it more difficult to fill leases, Purewal said before the council’s vote.
In response, the Livermore City Council unanimously approved the developer’s request to rezone the property, which means it can lease to a wider variety of businesses, including cafes, restaurants, hair and nail salons, and retail, with the potential for places such as a pub in the future.
“Before the pandemic, we had about 25 to 30% of the project in lease negotiations, and then that all disappeared because of the pandemic, so it was really about a year of not a lot of activity,” Power said in an interview.
But with the demand for retail, restaurants and medical office space bouncing back, Power said the new center has about 25% of its spaces leased, and with more under negotiation, the buildings should be about 50% leased by early 2022.
Bubb’s Bagels and Coffee, Charming Fig cafe and catering, and Extreme Pizza are some of the food and drink businesses already committed, and other businesses, including a Learning Tree Preschool and Perfect 10 Nail Spa, are also leasing space, according to a statement from Mana.
“I think it looks great, and I’m happy to see we have some people ready to sign leases, because seeing this sit empty any longer would be sad for all of us,” Councilmember Brittni Kiick said at the Nov. 8 meeting.
The city’s Planning Commission in early October approved the developer’s proposal for a senior living facility on the northern portion of the site where four buildings currently stand.
Power said the facility will be “upscale” and include independent living senior apartments, as well as assisted living facilities and memory care facilities, all aimed at people who are 80 or older.
The senior living building will be two stories tall, and total a little more than 112,000 square feet, according to city reports.
“There is a really strong need for this type of housing” in Livermore and the surrounding area, including Dublin, Pleasanton and San Ramon, Power said. While interest in independent living senior facilities lessened a bit during the pandemic, he said, demand for assisted living and memory care housing “has still proved to be very strong.”
Power said the senior living project could be complete by the latter half of 2023.
Sunset Development’s executives, including Alexander Mehran Sr., told the City Council and residents in 2015 that renovating the site was not financially viable.
In 2015, after the planning commission approved plans for 42 houses and a two-story office building at the site of the office park, the City Council denied the project by a vote of 5-0, citing complaints and concerns from neighbors.
The year before, the Planning Commission denied Sunset’s proposal for 49 houses and 38 town houses at the site.
Mayor Bob Woerner, speaking at the Nov. 8 city council meeting, said he was happy to see the current developer do enough outreach and gain support from nearby residents for the current project.
“I was on the council when we rejected the very early (Sunset) proposal, and we were warned it would be a disaster, and I’m just pleased to see what you’ve done here,” Woerner said to the developer.
“We don’t rezone lightly and a key factor is, is the project good, and is it compatible with the neighborhood and what do the neighbors think? This checks all the criteria,” Woerner said.
“It’s great we have someone who is wanting to bring those amenities to the community,” Vice Mayor Trish Munro said at the meeting.
“I’m really glad to see it’s going to become a vibrant area again.”