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After years of waiting, Pleasanton residents will soon be able to shop at a Costco located in their own town with a new warehouse store on track to open in just a couple months or more.
According to the retailer’s website, Pleasanton’s long-awaited Costco warehouse located on Johnson Drive near the Interstate 580 and Interstate 680 interchange is scheduled to open in August.
However, city communications manager Heather Tiernan said the company told Pleasanton city officials that it is currently targeting sometime in fall as the opening date for the new store, so whether that August timeframe will be realized could be up in the air.
A Costco representative told the Weekly this week, “Due to construction schedules, city requirements, etc., new warehouse opening dates are subject to change. For that reason, company policy prohibits us from sharing specific dates.”
The new Costco store is one piece of the larger Johnson Drive Economic Development Zone (JDEDZ) project that aims to redevelop approximately 40 acres of land fronting Johnson Drive — near Stoneridge Drive and I-680 — into a commercial corridor including the wholesale retail giant and two new hotels, which both have recently opened.
The new warehouse store is set to be approximately 160,000 square feet and will come with 768 parking stalls and 15 double-sided fuel pumps at its Costco gas station.
The JDEDZ project also includes mandated street improvements such as making the Stoneridge Drive and I-680 northbound on-ramp wider in order to create a second lane, making Johnson Drive wider to create a second northbound lane and traffic signalization improvements on Owens and Commerce drives.
In July 2022, the Pleasanton City Council voted to move forward with allowing the construction of the property, which estimated a total cost of about $33.5 million — an increase from the initial $21.47 million in 2017 — and acquiring the right-of-way needed to construct the traffic mitigation measures.
As the new store gets set to open, Tiernan reflected on why it took nearly a decade to build the store given that the JDEDZ project has been under consideration since 2014.
“There are several reasons for the length of time it has taken to get to this point, including delays caused by a 2016 voter initiative to prohibit large-scale retail stores within the JDEDZ, which was ultimately defeated, and two separate legal challenges filed against the environmental document that was prepared for the project, requiring supplemental analysis to be prepared,” Tiernan said.
She was referring to the Pleasanton Citizens for Responsible Growth lawsuits and appeal that took place a few years back.
Tiernan also said there have been construction-related delays related to necessary roadway improvements and installation of new utilities by PG&E, which slowed down construction of the new store.
Seriously, how long does it take to complete a street improvement project???? They’ve built two hotels, Costco, and a gas station all while still trying to widen 50 feet of road. It’s ridiculous how long a street project can take. I can see why though, because they only have 1 dedicated worker and most of the time he is weed eating. Amazing!!
It’s not the physical construction that takes that long. It’s everything else. Negotiating with each landowner to purchase the right of way, relocating electrical, which is controlled by a separate, privately-owned company (PG&E), relocating sewer, traffic lights, environmental reviews, permits. Part of the necessary changes relate to adding lanes to 680N entrance, which then involves the State. It’s not a lot of land, but it’s an intricate intersection with a LOT of parties that need to do their respective thing. They even had to consider traffic flow eastbound and impact on the bridge if traffic backed up at the stoplight turning left. What if there were too many cars on the bridge and they exceed weight limits?
Yes, I get all that including the planning. But once the work starts it shouldn’t take 50 years to improve such a small area. I drive by there everyday and rarely see anyone doing anything besides the same guy weed eating.