Downtown project talks to continue
San Rafael officials have agreed to extend negotiations with a developer who wants to build 240 apartments and a 30,000-squarefoot commercial space downtown.
The City Council voted unanimously to continue an exclusive negotiating agreement with developer Paul Goldstone of the Berkeley-based Goldstone Management Group. The extension gives Goldstone until June 6 to hammer out a deal with city officials over a city-owned parking garage.
Goldstone is hoping to buy the garage, near the intersection of Third Street and Lootens Plaza, and renovate it as part of the proposed complex. Negotiations began under an initial agreement with the city in November 2019.
“I would encourage the parties to apply their resources and their time and energy to bring this to fruition one way or another,” said Vice Mayor Maribeth Bushey. “I would hate for us to get into a pattern of just dragging this out endlessly.”
The project has stalled in part because of the economic impacts of the coronavirus crisis, said Josh Townsend, a spokesman for Goldstone Management.
“It’s also a very technical project with a lot of details that need to be worked out,” Townsend said. “We’re being very meticulous through this process so that we can provide something the city will love.”
Townsend said the company is “absolutely committed to the project and very motivated to move forward.”
If San Rafael agrees to sell the parking garage, which has 171 spaces, Goldstone plans to tear it down and build a new parking structure that stacks cars using a mechanical lift system. The structure would be partly underground, and would have apartments on top of it. A portion of the parking — at least 171 spaces — would remain open to the public, Goldstone said.
But Goldstone has said his plans aren’t contingent on San Rafael selling the property. He already owns several adjacent lots on Third and Fourth streets, encompassing the space occupied by San Rafael Laundry and Cleaners at 924 Third St. and the former Body Kinetics Gym at 1001 Fourth St.
On those properties, Goldstone wants to build a six-story, 75-foot-tall complex with commercial space on the ground floor and 150 apartments above it. The parking garage space would allow him to build an additional 90 apartments, bringing the total for the complex to 240 residences.
Goldstone said he envisions the commercial space as a “food hall,” or a European-style marketplace. It would have roughly 20 food vendors, including one or two restaurants.
“This has all the ingredients of what I think we’re all hoping for in the blend of what we want downtown,” said Councilmember Eli Hill.
Mayor Kate Colin said the Goldstone project could help “activate” downtown.
“We can’t wait for something to happen there,” she said. “I just think it’s a wonderful ripple effect that can happen.”