|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Stanford Shopping Center plans to demolish the blocky Macy’s Men’s building and construct near the Macy’s site three new stores, including a tiered, three-story Restoration Hardware building with a restaurant and roof gardens.
The proposal from Simon Property Group, the mall owner, also includes a new two-story Wilkes Bashford store and two new retail spaces next to Restoration Hardware — spaces that will likely be filled by restaurants, according to Simon representatives. The demolition of the 94,000-square-foot Macy’s Men’s building and the addition of three retail buildings, which total 78,000 square feet, will also lead to a reconfiguration of the parking area in the section of the mall closest to the intersection of Sand Hill Road and El Camino Real.
Under the plan, which the Architectural Review Board reviewed last Thursday, the Restoration Hardware building will be constructed just north of the Macy’s Men’s site, adjacent to Sand Hill Road. The two smaller retailers will be directly across to Restoration Hardware and immediately adjacent to the existing Stanford Shopping Center building that includes LaBelle Day Spas & Salons, Jeffrey and Blue Bottle Coffee.
The Wilkes Bashford store will occupy a parking lot site at the El Camino side of the mall, east of the Macy’s building and near Pistache Place, according to project plans. The proposal also calls for creating a new elevated parking area and “drive aisles” near the Restoration Hardware building. The building itself will have an open design with large windows, plantings, lantern-style lights and a tiered design with less massing on the top floor.
The Restoration Hardware building will also have a restaurant on the third floor, an area that will be surrounded by glass and accessible to the roof garden. The store will also include a “design atelier,” a room that the application describes as “an integrated interior design workspace that allows RH design consultants and customers to conceptualize one room or an entire home.”
Jordan Brown, representing Restoration Hardware, said the proposed building represents the company’s “next generation gallery design.”
“Over the past several years, Restoration Hardware has reimagined our stores and transformed them into more inspiring furniture-design galleries with a dynamic hospitality experience integrated into the footprint, with a full café offering,” Brown told the board.
With Macy’s gone, the new layout will allow Simon Property Group to separate the Restoration Hardware building from the two smaller retailers, creating a new corridor for shoppers looking to get from the east part of the mall to the west. Matt Klinzing said the layout brings back “urban-village principles.”
“By separating what is now Restoration Hardware and the two speculative retail spaces, we have an internal vehicular street that we think connects the east and west a lot more,” Klinzing told the board.
In reviewing the project, board members voiced major concerns about the proposed parking configuration, particularly a proposal to include parking spaces between Restoration Hardware and the new building for small retailers. Board members also wondered whether the new parking layout would be “functional” for shoppers and whether it would provide enough spaces.
“We seem to be adding attractions without making it easy to get there, except by driving, and then we don’t have enough parking,” board member Wynne Furth observed.
Board member Peter Baltay also said he was concerned about the prospect of removing oak trees to accommodate the new Wilkes Bashford store and the proposed design of that standalone store: a single-story flat-roof building with a mezzanine and large windows.
But the board also found much to like about the new Restoration Hardware building, which board member David Hirsch said will look “delightful from all sides.” Baltay called the proposed building “wonderful” and emblematic of the changes in the retail industry. He lauded Restoration Hardware for bringing a “real showcase” store to Stanford Shopping Center.
“What I see is a high-quality design,” Baltay said. “It’s a really neat way to mix people shopping and dining and checking out their products.”
Such big furniture can’t be good for the planet
market must be the rural mansions West of 280
I suppose having a store just for men comes under the heading of Toxic Masculinity.
I always wonder how many “shoppers” go to these stores, look, take pictures and then search for it cheaper on-line?
Presumably the Restoration Hardware store on University will close. One more retail move that is turning downtown into an office park and food mall?
I remember when the building used to be I. Magnin’s…awhile back.
Stanford Shopping Center has undergone a lot of changes over the past decades.
It wasn’t as upscale ‘back in the day’. The more exclusive stores (i.e. Livingston’s, Joseph Magnin, I. Magnin & Blum’s Bakery) were located near the back.
Stanford Shopping Center will be a destination spot for all the new upscale downtown hotel visitors and
super rich residents. Oh well… 🙁
This is the only store my husband will enter.
Hopefully he has enough clothes to last him for the rest of his life because I’m not buying them for him! Either that, or Amazon if he can work out how!
> “market must be the rural mansions West of 280″
Nah, all our new construction of suburban McMansions right here in town.
Palo Alto Building Eye is covered with upscale dots. https://paloalto.buildingeye.com/planning
You can definitely stop the area from its own “demolition”:
– Stop using Smart Phones
– Stop using social media
– Stop using Virtual Private Networks
– Stop making comments on commercial news and social media sites
– Stop spending more than 1 hour a day on the Internet
– Stop sharing links and pictures
– Use Email as your main online activity
– Stop Texting
– Don’t use cars or vehicles with computers built-in
– Stop supporting local startups
– Order directly from companies and restaurants, visit restaurants and stores in person
– Stop complaining about things online
– Eat locally at local community restaurants, not major commercial brands
– Encourage outside activities for children instead of learning to code, build robots, and virtual/augmented reality. If they are so interested have them read off-line actual paper books and visit the Computer History Museum.
– Visit local parks at last one day per week.
– Stop Buying Electric Vehicles, Stop Supporting Tesla, PayPal and Space-X
– Stop replacing traditional California interior designs with Asian / Indian / Middle Eastern “Geometric Modern” – meets gray – meets horizontal-see-through-wood-plank fences – meets Eames with Tungsten Builbs in wiry or glass shapes
– Stop having overly greasy expensive food
– Make sure the news only talks about local California
– Encourage news coverage of only local community events
– If you want cultures to be respected, the community has to hear about their efforts and wants in published non-online material that everyone can read
– Stop spending computer usage time in shops, coffee shops, and in your vehicles
– Stop relying on free applications, and buying software on the Internet, go to stores to shop for such products.
– Encourage volunteering over computer time for children and the unemployed (and yes, California has a much higher unemployment rate than is indicated by the news)
– Figure this out – if California falls apart – then consider writing your will as soon as age 5, besides there are plenty of grave stones to choose in Colma
Regarding the Restoration Hardware market base…
Why are 90% of the more recent residents to Palo Alto & Los Altos (among other affluent towns on the peninsula) seemingly trying to buy ‘class’ or the superficial appearance of it?
Has the SF Bay Area gone total Beverly Hills in overall mentality?
This mindset is not being sophisticated by any means of the word.
It’s simply buying stuff to impress other superficial people.
Thorstein Veblen’s social theory of Conspicuous Consumption never really went away…it just got worse.
So the question remains…is this just human nature?
In other words, a world filled with soul-less individuals who think they will never die…and so they cling to the material universe?
How pathetic & sad.
In all honesty, considering the space and that it’s right next to a major university with tons of dormitories, it would be completely practical to make the building a Target. In addition, it would serve everyone well. End of story.
Just this week the Napa Valley Register wrote a long review about the new Restoration Hardware restaurant in Yountville. They had few kind words for the restaurant which seems to be an overly conspicuous dining space with little true character.
Interesting that we’re about to get round #2 in Palo Alto….
I think it is interesting that the topic here seems to provoke more discussion about the replacement than the loss of Macys Mens Store.
We are losing another staple. Of course it could be that Macys is performing poorly generally. They are closing stores. But what is happening here? Are they going to put a men’s department in the other Stanford location? It would be smart reporting if that end of it was covered better.
I will miss Macy’s Men’s Store. I have a son, a grandson-in-law and a grandson. That Macy’s Men’s Store has been my go-to for clothing for several generations of men: middle aged, 20 something and even teenaged.
Especially as Christmas got closer they had amazing sales. I got a lined windbreaker for my son for Christmas and for probably 30% of the original price on the tag and he LOVES it, considering it his go-to jacket whether it’s raining or just a bit chilly.
The Macy’s Men’s store is clearly not performing well, or it would be renovated instead of being knocked down. As a xennial I have no context because I would sooner have a root canal without anesthesia than have to regularly shop for clothing at a department store.
However, as a replacement, a Target or a replacement / expansion of the downtown Whole Foods would be far more useful than a Restoration Hardware.
To Who Are These People — you said it all – how pathetic and sad, yes! Thank you!
parking?
Considering that Palo Alto’s City Council has targeted GHG reduction as one of their priorities for the coming year, I think they should take a serious look at the consequences of the demolition and replacement of this concrete store. The production of cement is a huge emitter of C02 – about 8% of the world’s emissions. Surely there is someone in Palo Alto or at Stanford that could do an analysis of what the effect of this construction might be in terms of CO2 emissions.
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46455844
I wonder if there will be any Men’s clothing moved to the other Macy’s?
You are going to have to come on down to Mountain View for Target,Costo and Bed Bath Beyond. No way will you find big box stores at Stanford ..Mon Dieu, what are you thinking!!!?? We welcome all you PA folks looking for a deal to come to Mountain View (we do get a piece of that sales tax right?).
BTW… funny and interesting piece about Restoration ‘Hardware’ and source of their merchandise, read before you buy!! https://laurelberninteriors.com/2016/08/10/shocking-truth-restoration-hardware/
and FYI – from RH product sourcing from China http://ir.rh.com/news-releases/news-release-details/rh-provides-clarification-product-sourcing-china
The Company expects to source approximately 35% of its product from China in fiscal 2018, 25% to 30% in fiscal 2019. In fiscal 2017, approximately 40% of RH product was sourced from China.
Get a life people. Stanford Shopping Center has been a tourist destination for at least 30 years. Now, electric powered busses bring Japanese and Chinese tourists from SFO. These folks spend big bucks yielding significant sales tax revenues for Palo Alto and Santa Clara County. Or hang out in Tiffany’s on a spring afternoon and you will witness the purchase of diamonds and other baubles by young Asian couples dressed in the latest Euro fashion also to be had at the mall. Again a major influx of foreign capital and tax dollars. I regret the loss of good old reliable Macy’s men’s store, but that is due to Macy’s mismanagement of modern trends not some plot by Simon management. Not to mention the fact that the shopping center sits on Stanford land. The university profits from this situation but is constantly harassed by the local communities to cough up even more concessions every time they want to redirect traffic on campus. If you really want a small town atmosphere move to Idaho.
> Get a life people… If you really want a small town atmosphere move to Idaho.
If having to move to a ‘red state’ where ‘open carry’ is legal & embraced by the ‘locals’…well, let’s just say that suburban American life has gone down the tubes.
>>Stanford Shopping Center has been a tourist destination for at least 30 years. Now, electric powered busses bring Japanese and Chinese tourists from SFO. These folks spend big bucks yielding significant sales tax revenues for Palo Alto and Santa Clara County. Or hang out in Tiffany’s on a spring afternoon and you will witness the purchase of diamonds and other baubles by young Asian couples dressed in the latest Euro fashion also to be had at the mall.
Yes. Stanford Shopping Center has become a Rodeo Drive of sorts. Embrace it or simply walk away…ideally to someplace better than Idaho (although Ketchum/Hailey/Sun Valley in the Sawtooths are quite nice). But most expatriates from CA move to eastern Idaho outside of Boise.
The thing I remember is that Restoration Hardware would send these giant catalogs to our house and I always thought they were a total waste of paper. People can shop online and there’s a store right by us in downtown. Can’t say I was a fan of that.
I don’t have any special opinion about the article, but the Restoration Hardware restaurant in Yountville (mentioned in one of the review above) has really great reviews on Yelp https://www.yelp.com/biz/rh-yountville-yountville
I sincerely hope Macy’s Men STAYS and even adds younger boys clothing. When my boys were little, I discovered that 90% of the toddler / younger kids clothes were all for girls. I had money to spend on cute, but not outrageously priced clothes, and couldn’t find much.
We have dozens of furniture stores around, but really no good options for Tween to adult men. I have teen boys in my household and sometimes they have to actually try things on. We are at Macy’s Men’s store ever few months.
By contrast, the furniture store is overpriced and over done.
Target is maybe 2-3 miles to the north? Don’t need another one.
>>I don’t have any special opinion about the article, but the Restoration Hardware restaurant in Yountville (mentioned in one of the review above) has really great reviews on Yelp Web Link
Oh boy. So RH/Yountville essentially offers a ‘high-end’ dining experience as compared to the likes of IKEA & their Swedish Meatballs or Costco & their hot dogs.
Just what Palo Alto needs.
Re: scape To Potato Land
Don’t forget the Palo Alto has made an effort over the last 50 years to keep out any big box retailer. They have blocked Whole Foods, Safeways and other stores from expanding. Look at a map, Palo Alto is surrounded by the retailers you want to see in Palo Alto but were kept out.
Home Depot, Ikea, Staples, Target, Super Safeway, Costco, Walmart, REI, BB&B. All the stores that people are complaining they want in Palo Alto were blocked from every being in Palo Alto.
So all you Palo Alto residents that are complaining, remember, you caused this problem.
/marc