Pleasanton threatens to ‘pull the plug’ on Stoneridge Mall project if property owners don’t move forward
After six extensions, the City Council is giving the shopping center's owners a last chance to make some progress.
PLEASANTON – The future of the Stoneridge Mall remains in limbo as city officials poke and prod its owners to make a move on building housing and redeveloping closed parts of the shopping center. But within a year, the city expects significant progress to be made.
The council in 2023 approved a 360-unit housing development at the mall to be started by Simon Property Group, which is the majority owner of the mall. But the developer has not yet broken ground. This represents the beginning of what the city expects to be a major contributor to Pleasanton’s future housing stock.
The city also expects several other hundred housing units to be built across up to 18 acres of land at the mall for a total possible 1,170 housing units. These would come with requirements for public open space – or roughly 120 square feet per housing unit.
“The idea here is to get the ball rolling. It’s not rolling right now. Nothing has happened,” said City Manager Gerry Beaudin during a June 4 council meeting. “This group of property owners has not cooperated with one another. And the ball has not been moved very far from where the council left it the last time you saw this development agreement.”
Beaudin later added that the city “is between a rock and a hard place” trying to get this mall project off the ground.
A decades-old agreement between four different property owners at the mall requires them to make unanimous decisions regarding any new development at the shopping center. But city officials lament that the owners continue to disagree about any form of forward progress at the 75-acre site. Council over the years has granted them six different extensions on the owners’ plans; in June, they set a January 2025 deadline for some kind of significant forward progress.
Beaudin told council if there is no movement on the mall in the next couple years, “we’re going to have to pull the plug on this piece.”
Ellen Clark, Director of Community Development for Pleasanton, told this news organization in an interview that the latest extension was due to “market conditions” — including the devastating Covid-19 pandemic, which set commercial and residential developers around the country back due to high inflation and lack of materials.
But city officials say they are steadfast in its pursuit of a re-envisioned shopping center complete with over 1,000 apartments.
Clark said the mall most recently brought in nearly $2.5 million annually in sales tax revenue in the city’s 2022-23 fiscal year, accounting for about 9% of the city’s overall sales tax. Before that, the mall’s sales taxes brought in about 22% of the city’s sales tax revenue.
But Clark said the mall, which broke ground in 1979, is still “a significant sales tax contributor, and it has been for decades.” The mall brings in customers from throughout the Tri-Valley for shopping and dining – something the city expects to capitalize on for its increasing population in the coming years.
“It has been a really significant economic driver for the city and center for activity. And we really hope that continues another 40 years beyond what the original purpose of the shopping center was for,” Clark said. “What we understand just in general is that this is a very challenging construction market right now.”
Jerry Hunt, an owner of the mall’s JCPenney store, assured council the owners are not trying to get in the city’s way.
“We have no interest in obstructing anything out here. We did not get involved with Stoneridge and our ownership to obstruct anything,” Hunt said at the June 4 meeting. “I think we have a proven track record of working together.”
He said the owners have spent “countless hours together” and more than six figures of money to get the planning process underway for the mall. And he asserts the owners have met “every other week” to plan the project, and then all of a sudden the developers at Simon Property Group “went quiet. Nothing happened.”
Mayor Karla Brown said she personally has shopped at the mall over the years, and that she was “very direct” in expressing her desire for progress at the mall.
“The ball is in their court to work this through,” said Brown. “The city can’t force them.”
She personally requested a “water feature,” such as a fountain of some kind, and a clocktower to be included in the project. She said she wants “it to look like it fits in Pleasanton,” and see it flourish again.
“It was a thriving part of Pleasanton that is not as active as it used to be. So I want to bring back the glory of Stoneridge Mall,” Brown said.
As it stands, Vice Mayor Julie Testa said in an interview the slowing business at the mall has “been a significant add to our deficit,” mentioning a $13 million shortfall the city is looking to stave off with a proposed half-cent sales tax heading for this year’s election ballot.
“It isn’t to blame for our deficit, but it really doesn’t help us. And we’re eager to turn that around,” Testa said.