Home Depot planned for Stanley, Bernal Home Depot planned for Stanley, Bernal (October 21, 2005)

New Pleasanton Gateway to include gas station, coffee shop
by Jeb Bing

Home Depot has announced plans to build one of its larger stores at the corner of Bernal Avenue and Stanley Boulevard, a 16-acre site across from McDonald's that is considered one of the most visible retail locations in the city.

The site was considered earlier by both Albertson's and Safeway, which decided the property was too small for the larger supermarkets both companies are now building.

Beverly Metz, senior real estate manager for Home Depot, said the new store will occupy 102,000 square feet, more than Home Depot's other Pleasanton store on Johnson Drive. Besides offering the same home building and contactors' supplies as the other stores, the new location will feature more upscale retail products and a residential design center.

Metz and project developers Don MacKenzie and Peter Knoedler said the new store will be the key part of the corner complex that will include a gasoline service station and at least one coffee shop, with Chevron and Starbucks having expressed an interest in those two facilities. The coffee shop would be near the corner with the gas station to be built alongside Home Depot with access from Stanley.

Metz said suppliers would be expected to make their deliveries at 5 a.m. before rush hour starts at that busy intersection, with a delivery zone that has trucks exiting onto eastbound Stanley. Contractors would pick up their materials about 7 a.m. with only smaller suppliers, such as garden products vendors, making deliveries during the day.

In their presentation to the Pleasanton Chamber of Commerce Economic Development Committee, MacKenzie and Knoedler acknowledged that traffic would likely be a major concern for city planners and the city council.

"But the fact is that Home Depot will generate a lot less traffic than would a supermarket, with much of the business occurring on evenings and weekends

"We'll actually keep a lot of traffic off city streets because many in central and eastern Pleasanton, including the contractors we sell to, won't have to cross town anymore to reach the other store," Knoedler said.

The said the new store will also draw from western Livermore, traffic that probably would impact other Pleasanton locations. Large supply and delivery trucks would come from the Sacramento area, using the Airway Boulevard and Hwy. 84 exit to travel on Isabel and Stanley to reach the new Pleasanton store.

To be named Pleasanton Gateway, the new center will feature a decorative gateway sign and architecture, including a fountain at the Bernal-Stanley corner.

MacKenzie estimated that the new store will generate about $1 million a year in sales tax revenue for the city of Pleasanton. Builders will pay an estimated $5 million in construction and other fees to the city by the time Home Depot is completed and open for business next year.

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