It was back in 2011 when the City of Auburn approved the Robertson Property Group’s plans to turn the Valley 6 Drive-In Theaters site into The Auburn Gateway, a 70-acre, multi-phased, mixed-use, residential and retail development.
In 2013, the landmark Valley 6 sign was removed from its many-seasoned perch over Auburn Way North.
Ever since then, however — setting aside the fallen fences, the rich profusion of weeds and grasses, the guy recently caught camping under a tree — it seems that not much has been going on there.
But take a closer look.
John Manavian, vice president of Real Estate Development for Los Angeles-based RPG, told the Auburn City Council on Monday that the firm of late has been concentrating on laying infrastructure, including storm drains, and wrapping up right-of-way acquisitions, all to accommodate its part of the City’s South 277th Street Corridor and Non-motorized Improvements project.
That work, which was a City condition of plan approval, is part of a project that extends from 277th to Auburn Way North, and from there to L Street. It is to include trails. Construction should start next spring and finish by October or November of 2017.
The Auburn Gateway Project site plan calls for a multi-phased development of up to 700,000 square feet of retail, 500 residential units and/or up to 1.6 million square feet of office space.
Manavian said that after the recession hit in 2009, Circuit City and Borders Books, which were to have been the largest of Auburn Gateway’s tenants, folded.
Their exit prompted a shift of focus away from leasing, for the moment.
Manavian said that the RPG is competing with other developers keen to attract major tenants to commercial sites that are along freeway arterials, which, he noted, are more attractive to would-be tenants.
“We’ve also had many major tenants wanting to acquire pieces of our property, and we don’t want to lose control because we want this to be an integrative development,” Manavian said. “We’re very, very patient, and we’ll hopefully last out some of the desires of people who want to just pick off some property.”
Meanwhile, he said, the RPG is looking ahead, trying to figure out what’s going to happen with retail markets and how potential major tenants are consolidating.
“I am not going to be apologetic about where we are with the leasing part of it,” Manavian said. “The infrastructure is critical for us. With 277th coming in, it will improve that edge and make a big difference in helping get this project off the ground.”
Manavian said the RPG has recently wrapped up several key land acquisitions, including one 4-acre parcel that will enable it to develop the north half and the south half of the project in a way that provides much-desired continuity.
“We want this development to be dramatic in a way so everybody feels like it’s a true mixed-use center, and not a hodge lodge of activities,” Manavian said. “We see the north half of the property, up north of 49th, as being where we want to put more of a lifestyle center that has not only hard goods but also soft goods and restaurants. On the south, we would be open to larger, big-box tenants. Unfortunately, all of the big-box tenants want the north end. We don’t want to give up what we think is the best orientation for a project like this.”
Manavian added that he drove through the site Monday and was embarrassed by its condition. He said the RPG has a third-party manager who looks after the project, and from now on his company will insist on once-a-week photographs.
“We have some fences that have fallen over, and now that we have all the edges, we’ll be better at controlling weed abatement and those sorts of things,” Manavian said.
