Ruby Hill center plan heading to city planners Ruby Hill center plan heading to city planners (July 29, 2005)

Homeowners like concept but wonder if market's there
by Jeb Bing

Ruby Hill residents have weighed in on a developer's plan to build a multi-million-dollar upscale shopping center in their neighborhood with what appears to be a mostly favorable response.

For more than an hour, representatives of Flexxon Operating, an Atlanta-based developer of premier shopping centers, described their plans for the 50,000-square-foot project, to be called the Vineyard Shoppes at Ruby Hill. The center would be built on a 3.9 acre site at southwest corner of Isabel and Vineyard avenues.

The team, headed by company president Harold Wenal, said the boutique center would feature a gourmet grocery store and deli, top-of-the line restaurants and specialty stores not found in the Tri-Valley.

Although few in the packed, standing-room only crowd in the Ruby Hill Community Center objected to the concept, at least 20 out of the more than 100 there questioned the long-term financial viability of an upscale commercial center at that location. They worried that it will serve too small of a market area, one that might not visit high-priced stores and restaurants, and that it might eventually fail or downsize.

"We have an upscale mall already at the Blackhawk Plaza shopping center in Danville, and no one goes there," one woman said. "Why would this one be any different?"

Realtor Dave Cunningham displayed photos he had taken at different times that day at Blackhawk showing the center without any customers.

"There are eight times as many residents around Blackhawk Plaza as there will be around this one, and it's just not making it," Cunningham said. "What you're proposing - if it's successful - would be a great addition for Ruby Hill. But I'm concerned that someday we might have the large number of vacancies and 'For Lease' signs posted around our corner as we see over there today, and it wouldn't help property values."

Wenal and his West Coast representative Terry Potter said the Flexxon center would have better stores and restaurants than Blackhawk, have better marketing and, according to surveys, serve a family-focused customer base that wants this type of a premium center nearby.

"This affluent neighborhood and community is growing," Potter said. "We believe there's a need for an upscale, high-end marketplace where you can go to buy a gourmet deli sandwich or sit at one of the country's best restaurants with a view of the vineyards. It will be a specialized center that we think will be a perfect fit for Ruby Hill and the regional community beyond."

Eric Wente, chairman of Wente Family Estates, said the proposed center would add to the amenities that attract more visitors every year to the wine country. The Wentes plan to sell the entire 54-acre corner parcel to Flexxon, which has an entitlement that allows commercial development of the 3.9-acre parcel, while preserving the rest of the property as vineyard in accordance with the Tri-Valley Conservancy. Wente would manage the vineyard for Flexxon, he added.

Wente said the old house and water tank at the far end of the acreage, next to the wall separating it from the Ruby Hill Community Center, is part of the 3.9 developable land. The rest of the property must be kept as vineyards in perpetuity under the conservancy agreement.

Flexxon plans to ask Pleasanton for a General Plan Amendment that would relocate the 3.9-acre commercial site to the corner of Isabel and Vineyard, tear down the house and turn that into vineyards.

"Whether you like this plan or not, something is going to happen eventually with those 3.9 acres," Wente said. "We have considered a working winery that would be open to the public."

"As a family, we've worked hard to develop this area into a premier wine producing region," he added. "We're looking at a lot of different ways to make this a viable wine country region and attract more people. We believe this upscale center would add to the mix."

E-mail a friend a link to this story.