Merchants, employees, shoppers and city and civic leaders joined last Friday in a ribbon-cutting ceremony hosted by the Pleasanton Chamber of Commerce to celebrate the completion of Gateway Center at Bernal and Valley avenues.
Mayor Jerry Thorne led the festivities, saying that the shopping center, anchored by a new Safeway Lifestyle supermarket, has brought vitality and shoppers to the once empty 12-1/2-acre site.
Located next to the northbound Interstate 680 off-ramp leading to Bernal Avenue, the Gateway Center complex is part of a 39-acre site that was purchased by South Bay Construction in 2000. The developer received zoning approval to build eight four-story office buildings on the property, but backed off that plan when the recession hit that market first.
Later, part of the land was sold to Safeway, which developed Gateway. South Bay recently was granted an approval to build apartments and single family homes on the rest of the site.
MJ Kroll, a portfolio manager at Colliers International, sponsored the ribbon-cutting ceremony to announce that the center is now filled, that all the spaces are leased.
