Corporate and retail growth, along with the city's financial stability, promise to make 2019 another banner year for Pleasanton.
General fund revenues for the city of Pleasanton reached an all-time high of $122 million in the fiscal year that ended last June 30, an increase of $4.7 million over earlier projections. With expenditures $3.6 million less than anticipated, the city headed into fiscal year 2019 with a $6.7 million surplus.
This year, with corporate and retail growth continuing, major traffic improvements and multimillion-dollar investments to reduce school overcrowding, Pleasanton's 83,007 residents can expect their municipality to live up to its 124-year-old motto: City of Progress.
Here's a look at what's ahead:
Workday
Pleasanton-based Workday, Inc., a global leader in enterprise cloud applications for finance and human resources, is wrapping up construction of its new headquarters building at 6110 Stoneridge Mall Road.
The new, architecturally stunning, six-story building is now Pleasanton's tallest structure and will be home to an estimated 2,200 employees when it opens this spring. It will include an amphitheater that can hold up to 1,000 employees.
"This is a transit-oriented development with accessibility to BART," Workday spokeswoman Allison Kubota said. "It will include a shared-ride passenger drop-off area for shuttles, buses and more."
The company, founded in 2005 by software visionaries Aneel Bhusri and Dave Duffield, reported total revenues of $743.2 million for its third quarter that ended last Oct. 31, an increase of 33.8% from the same period a year ago.
Workday also is funding a new joint BART-Pleasanton police service center on the ground floor of the West Dublin-Pleasanton BART garage to support law enforcement efforts on the north side of town.
As part of the development, four-way signals are being built on Stoneridge Mall Road at the new entrance to the BART garage, with a second set of signals planned at the front of Workday's headquarters. At the same time, the road will be widened to three lanes between Workday Way and Stoneridge Drive.
Stoneridge Shopping Center
With Workday nearing completion and the Sears store closing, discussions are underway for improvements at the mall. The Simon Property Group, which owns the Stoneridge Shopping Center as well as the San Francisco Premium Outlets in Livermore, has extended its development agreement with the city for an additional five years.
It's projected that Nordstrom will relocate into the old Sears building, with Simon planning for apartments, condos, office complexes and new entertainment centers extending from the Nordstrom end of the mall toward the new Workday headquarters.
Simon also would build a parking garage to offset parking spaces that would be lost with these new developments.
"This is good news for us because that signals that the mall is going to get some significant reinvestment from Simon Properties," Pleasanton City Manager Nelson Fialho said.
Fialho added that the city expects to receive an application from Simon as early as this month that will outline a redevelopment plan.
Costco
The long-awaited Costco store planned for Johnson Drive between Stoneridge Drive and the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel is expected to be approved for construction this year and opened by 2022.
Both the Planning Commission and City Council will consider a revised environmental impact report (EIR) in the coming weeks, a final step before clearing the way for Costco and two hotels to build on the 40-acre site.
The project has been delayed by complaints from a group called Pleasanton Citizens for Responsible Growth that an earlier EIR had an incomplete air quality analysis.
Downtown
The first draft of the Downtown Specific Plan Update is available for public review at www.ptowndtown.org.
The plan, to be approved this year, includes new land use designations, creates new policies for ground floor retail uses and includes a concept plan for building a new library and Civic Center on the Bernal Park property.
Downtown Specific Plan Update Task Force meetings are set to continue this winter before a final draft plan is prepared for consideration in public hearings in the spring.
Downtown Pleasanton is already set to see growth in 2019 as more residential units are built. These projects include:
* 273 Spring St. -- Ground-floor retail shops plus two- and three-story, multi-family residential units.
* 377 Saint Mary St. -- Three 2,400-square-foot, three-story, single-family residences.
* 536/550 St. John St. -- Ten two-story townhomes, with existing historic single-family home to remain.
* 4791 Augustine St. -- Construction starts this year on a trio of three-story, single-family homes, and one three-story mixed-use building with apartments/office/retail space.
Restaurants
Some 15 new restaurants are now open or soon will be in Pleasanton, most of them in the downtown district. Recently opened are:
* The Clubhouse, a casual restaurant and bar, recently opened in the Pleasanton Hotel, 855 Main St. The white-cloth-table Lily's Spirited is set to open in the hotel later this month.
* Salt Craft, a casual American-cuisine restaurant, in a 1930s Spanish colonial-style house at 377 Saint Mary St.
* SideTrack in the former Panda's Restaurant site at 30 W. Angela St. It offers hand-crafted burgers, seasonal dishes and a full bar.
* Shanghai Dumpling House, 201 Main St., is a traditional style Chinese restaurant.
* Uptown Burger Bar, 724 Main St., known for its tater tots, peanut butter and jelly hamburgers and $4.95 "Old Thyme" milk shakes.
* Wild One Cal Mex Grill, now in the former site of High-Tech Burrito at 349 Main St.
Opening soon will be:
* Zachary's Chicago Pizza, taking over half of the current Bank of America building at 337 Main St. The bank will continue operating in the remaining area.
* Patio Café will take over the former Stacey's Cafe space at 310-A Main St. The opening date has not yet been announced.
Currently under construction for opening in the coming weeks is Ramen 101 at 444 Main St. Its Dublin restaurant is getting rave reviews for its Asian food.
Beso, a Mexican restaurant, will open later this year on the second floor of the new building at 725 Main St., where Union Jack Pub was once located. The first floor, which could also be a restaurant, has yet to be leased.
Several prospective tenants have shown interest in the former Dean's Café at 620 Main St., a downtown restaurant for the last 60 years that was closed last year for health-code violations.
Laura Olson, executive director of the Pleasanton Downtown Association, said a new restaurant should be open at the Dean's location this year.
A new eatery for the now-empty Café Main at 401 Main St. has backed out. "We anticipate that someone new will lease the space in the first part of 2019," Olson said.
Near Home Depot, diners and drive-thru customers fill the parking lots at In-N-Out Burger and the recently-opened Chick-fil-A.
More crowds are expected this summer when the Peninsula's popular Cook's Seafood and Fish Market opens in Bernal Plaza across from the Alameda County Fairgrounds at Bernal and Valley avenues. It will be only the second restaurant opened by the Crumrine family since they started the business in Menlo Park 90 years ago.
Comments
Val Vista
on Jan 3, 2019 at 5:37 pm
on Jan 3, 2019 at 5:37 pm
Pleasanton isn't meant to be a city of over 80,000 traffic is already a nightmare at times the historic downtown has no historic feel except for a few buildings and now the 2 and 3 story housing and offices "Pleasanton the city that abondand it's history"
Downtown
on Jan 3, 2019 at 6:20 pm
on Jan 3, 2019 at 6:20 pm
How about a parking structure downtown ? I can’t even park in front of my own house. 10 years till retirement and this mess will be in my rear view mirror !
Registered user
Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Jan 3, 2019 at 7:24 pm
Registered user
on Jan 3, 2019 at 7:24 pm
This all sounds like progress to me. I'm looking forward to all the new development. I am really glad to see that Workday chose to keep its headquarters in Pleasanton.
Val Vista
on Jan 3, 2019 at 11:07 pm
on Jan 3, 2019 at 11:07 pm
When I moved here the sign used to say...City of Planned Progress. I guess the “Planning” disappeared over the lat 45 years.
Vineyard Avenue
on Jan 4, 2019 at 10:32 am
on Jan 4, 2019 at 10:32 am
Pleasanton is doing a good job of being fiscally responsible. These are very exciting changes coming to our city. My only suggestion is having some more commercial variety in the downtown area. Currently it is mostly restaurants. How about a movie theater? a grocery store? billiards hall? rock climbing?
Del Prado
on Jan 4, 2019 at 11:21 am
on Jan 4, 2019 at 11:21 am
Over the years we had a grocery store, a movie theater, and a pool hall downtown but in this day and age that is not what the younger deep pockets crowd is looking for, they want their stack and pack housing, wine and beer bars, nicer restaurants and some quaint little shops. They want easy parking for their cars and bike lanes and bike racks for their high end bikes. Used to be really nice here!!
Vineyard Avenue
on Jan 4, 2019 at 1:08 pm
on Jan 4, 2019 at 1:08 pm
Although I'm happy to see that some of our glaring vacancies will be taken care of, eating is not the only activity that the downtown should be focusing on. We need more retail/variety/gift shops. We have enough salons and spa's (massage parlor's) to fill an entire second town. If you are going to come to the downtown area deciding where to eat should not be the only thing to do. And the shops that are already here will up and leave or just die off with no interest. What are you offering to new merchants to want to sell and grow their future in our town? Rumors abound of bad landlords and skyrocketing rents. And then there's the elephant in the room that never seems to be addressed; parking, parking, PARKING!! Not only is it almost impossible as an employee of a downtown business we also get to hear constant, DAILY complaints from our customers.
Downtown
on Jan 4, 2019 at 2:14 pm
on Jan 4, 2019 at 2:14 pm
Please be careful generalizing what the "younger" crowd is looking for. Many people that I know who are "younger" and represent a range of socio-economic backgrounds in Pleasanton and the Bay Area, don't want "stack and pack housing" and all enjoy a wide range of options downtown.
Country Fair
on Jan 4, 2019 at 6:51 pm
on Jan 4, 2019 at 6:51 pm
I would like to see 'trollies' of sorts to shuttle us back and forth to events downtown when the streets are closed. The parking issue has yet to be remedied so if we all parked in the LARGE parking lot at Amador (hoping there's no other event at the school that day/night) then be shuttled down old Stanley and dropped off near Meadow Lark Dairy (or somewhere). This could be the end to the parking issue when we have events downtown.
Thanks.
Country Fair
on Jan 4, 2019 at 7:01 pm
on Jan 4, 2019 at 7:01 pm
There's no mention of " Porky's Pizza " on Valley & Hopyard. The building looks nice and looking forward to their Fried Chicken. Great Food to be served....San Leandro Porky's Pizza is always packed. Any clue of opening date?? Lot's going on in Pleasanton in 2019. Bill don't be so rough on Karen!!
Del Prado
on Jan 5, 2019 at 12:48 pm
on Jan 5, 2019 at 12:48 pm
Hi Tom and Ken,
Thank you for the support!
Porky’s is on track to be open in the beginning of March. We have already hired about 50 local high school students to help work there and still looking for lunch time team members. (removed)
Country Fair
on Jan 5, 2019 at 3:54 pm
on Jan 5, 2019 at 3:54 pm
Say there Nick,
Thanks for the much needed info....If I were a bit younger, I too
would jump at the chance to apply and be a team member at Porky's. Great that you hired local high school student's . They are good kids just starting out on their way to becoming responsible adults. Wishing you good fortune and Thanks for joining us in Pleasanton. Looking forward to your fantastic food menu.
Foothill High School
on Jan 5, 2019 at 11:17 pm
on Jan 5, 2019 at 11:17 pm
How about a 580W to 680S flyover?!?!?!?!
Registered user
Downtown
on Jan 6, 2019 at 8:44 am
Registered user
on Jan 6, 2019 at 8:44 am
With some of this extra money, the City needs to get serious about parking in the Downtown. You want more variety and more to do Downtown? Make it easier and more inviting to go there! How did Livermore's Downtown shoot ahead of ours? Their City invested in their Downtown! It's about time ours does too...
Registered user
Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Jan 6, 2019 at 5:53 pm
Registered user
on Jan 6, 2019 at 5:53 pm
There is very rarely ever a time when parking is not available either one or two streets over from Main. The problem is the lazy people who expect to park ten feet from the door of the business they are visiting. Even for the Santa parade there was still parking on Second Street well after the parade started. Try going to Carmel and finding a place to park that is even within the city limits. Won't happen. Nor will it happen in many other popular towns. Learn to walk a couple hundred steps and stop expecting parking immediately in front of the stores.
Pleasanton Valley
on Jan 6, 2019 at 6:37 pm
on Jan 6, 2019 at 6:37 pm
City leadership should continue to focus on paying down the Pleasanton pension debt.
They have made serious effort towards that debt, it should continue to be on the agenda.
Registered user
Downtown
on Jan 7, 2019 at 12:32 pm
Registered user
on Jan 7, 2019 at 12:32 pm
Park on 2nd Street? I'd rather drive 5 minutes down Stanley and have another enjoyable night in Livermore...
It's about investment and commitment. Livermore has invested in their Downtown and it shows...
Pleasanton Heights
on Jan 7, 2019 at 11:30 pm
on Jan 7, 2019 at 11:30 pm
My P's showed up over the holidays. They moved from Ptown to a very nice town on the east coast. A place I really like, but it doesn't fit my current dynamic. They absolutely love it.
After a couple weeks here, they commented, "Pleasanton is still the nicest place we have ever lived."
I traveled around a bit. I found nicer houses for the price. I found (rarely) places with better traffic. But the P's were right. It's certainly the best place I have ever lived.
Registered user
Downtown
on Jan 8, 2019 at 6:34 pm
Registered user
on Jan 8, 2019 at 6:34 pm
@Myopinion. AMEN TO THAT. Lived here my whole life and have never had trouble with parking, what a bunch of whiners, park that car and get out and walk a little, quit making those illegal u-turns on main st and running the stop signs trying to beat everybody to that perfect parking spot!! As for downtown Livermore I’ve had to park further out and walk then anytime in P-town, wait till they build that stack and pack housing along with the hotel in their downtown!! Hopefully JT honors her campaign promises and doesn’t give in to those clowns wanting to build that 200+ million palace for the city council.
Registered user
Vintage Hills
on Jan 10, 2019 at 10:34 pm
Registered user
on Jan 10, 2019 at 10:34 pm
My suggestion to alleviate the parking situation which directly affects the types of business that set up shop and contributes to the current vacancies downtown; 3 parking structures of varying spaces and footprint- (1) at Peters/ W. Angela the lot behind Peet's. (2) at the Workbench and Inklings lot. (3) at the ACE train lot.