First Look: Cupertino Project Would Replace Marina Food With Homes, Hotel

First Look: Cupertino Project Would Replace Marina Food With Homes, Hotel

Sep 23, 2015

After 30 years in business, the owners of Cupertino’s Marina Food grocery store are laying the groundwork to redevelop the site into a mixed-use village of homes, shops and a hotel.

But don’t worry: You’ll still be able to pick up Marina’s hard-to-find Asian specialty foods, after store executives find a replacement site in the region.

“They have been doing very well, and have decided to relocate the market somewhere in the area,” said Amy Chan, a former Sunnyvale city manager who is working with the family that owns Marina. “They are looking as we speak.”

The family turned in plans this month to replace the shopping center at 10122 Bandley Drive with 205 residential units and a 122-room hotel. The project is made possible by the city’s update last year of its housing plan, which added residential zoning at Marina and several other sites throughout Cupertino.

The proposal isn’t a surprise; the Marina Foods owners had previously said they hoped to redevelop the land. But the formal proposal likely marks the beginning of the end of an era in Cupertino. The independent store, which is about 30,000 square feet, has been a fixture since the 1980s and an important part of the city’s large Asian community. Chan said the family decided about two years ago to look at redeveloping the land they have long owned.

New projects — especially residential — are extremely tough to build in Cupertino because of strong community sentiment against development. But Marina’s owners are staying within the existing zoning code, meaning they aren’t asking to go above 45-foot height limits or beyond allowed density. That conceivably points to an easier time getting through the city’s planning process.

Other projects are likely to be submitted soon. KT Urban, which acquired The Oaks shopping center last year, will probably submit a redevelopment proposal for that site at some point (it received an allocation of 200 units in the housing plan update). Irvine Company is working through the development process on the Hamptons next to Apple Campus 2, which will be redeveloped with nearly 1,000 units. And Sand Hill Property Co. is seeking to build about 800 units as part of a redevelopment of that failed shopping mall.

While it sounds like a lot, that development pipeline will go only so far in balancing the city’s jobs/housing ratio. Between 2007 and 2014, developers in Cupertino built only 63 percent of the city’s new-unit goal set by the Association of Bay Area Governments, or 742 of 1,170 units. (Most of those were high-end luxury homes; only 38 were designated affordable for “very low” income people.) Meanwhile, Apple Inc. continues to shovel jobs into the city by the barrel, with more than 14,000 workers expected to inhabit the under-construction Apple Campus 2.

Chan said the family has gone through dozens of plans to get one that would satisfy neighbors while also penciling out financially. The current plan, which does not go above three stories, does that, she said.

The concept would put two, four-story residential buildings along Bandley Drive, across the street from Apple’s sleek new employee cafeteria. The buildings would include about 14,600 square feet of retail space on the ground floor. Fronting De Anza Boulevard would be an as-yet-unnamed hotel, which would include a 4,600-square-foot restaurant.

The complex would include 17 very low income units, and Marina would also pay additional money to support affordable housing in Cupertino, Chan said.

Marina is working with the architecture firm Dahlin Group on the design. Chan called it “a blend of traditional combined with more updated modern design.” One highlight is a pedestrian plaza running between the hotel and one of the apartment buildings that could be closed off for events.

“We looked at a lot of pictures, and we really wanted to make it more of a village feeling,” Chan said.

It’s still not clear if the family will seek to actually build the project themselves, sell to a home builder or partner in a joint venture.

The Marina Plaza project is not yet slated for public hearing, but it will appear before the city’s planning commission and city council. Marina also plans to hold community outreach meetings. “We want to be part of the community. I’m very biased in that sense,” Chan said. “That the more community can comment on it before they finalize the plan. You don’t want to end up with having people feel like they lost, even if you win.”