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NAPA VALLEY TOWN PLANS WAL-MART-ANCHORED ‘HEART’

By Debra Hazel

Even a small town needs a heart. But right now, American Canyon, Calif., has only an empty stretch of highway that even its own Chamber of Commerce calls ugly. That should change by next spring, though, when the Napa Junction mixed-use center opens, giving the town that much-needed core.

Just don’t call Napa Junction a town center. American Canyon has plans to build an office-oriented town center elsewhere in the city. Napa Junction, going up on Highway 29, will “be a heart of the town,” says Kevin James, a principal at MCG Architecture, the $100 million project’s designer.

Napa Junction will contain 214,000 square feet of community-oriented retail, consisting of a 170,000-square-foot Wal-Mart Supercenter joined by food, service and boutique tenants. A 216-unit apartment complex and a three-acre town green will create a small neighborhood within the small but growing town.

“This is an area that’s been hoping for someone to finally notice it,” said Vincent “Buzz” Butler. Butler, a principal at Menlo Park, Calif.-based Lake Street Ventures, is working with partner Michael Stoner to develop the retail center. Grand Prairie, Texas’ Fairfield Residential is building the apartment complex and town green.

American Canyon, which was incorporated in 1992, is about 35 miles northeast of San Francisco, just at the entry to the Napa Valley. The Napa River, the foothills of the Sulphur Springs Mountain Range, the city of Vallejo and the Napa Airport all bound this industrial town. In fact, the area was originally known as Napa Junction because of the rail lines that met at the north end of town. Early last year, the population was just over 13,000.

Residential development is under way, however, with single-family homes and multifamily complexes set to go up over the next two years. Unlike the Valley itself, where multimillion-dollar houses are commonplace, American Canyon is a middle-class market, home to many of those who work at the wineries or who commute to San Francisco, seeking comparatively affordable housing. Existing homes go for $300,000 to upwards of $400,000. New homes will sell for about $600,000, according to city officials. But right now the locals have literally nowhere to shop. Except for a Safeway, they must venture into the town of Napa or into Vallejo for their everyday needs. By Butler’s estimates, some 80 percent of retail sales leave the market.

Butler worked in the area for 15 years and acquired the property from a local owner in November 2001. Because of the frontage along Highway 29, the so-called Napa Valley Wine Trail that winds north past world-famous wineries, a mixed-use project was the obvious answer, Butler says.

The architecture evokes a rustic Tuscan look typical of the area, with earth tones, painted wood and stone, fountains and trellises. “This is a unique community,” James said. “They are trying to identify with the quality of the Napa name and extend that to this community.”

Unlike many of today’s mixed-use complexes, Napa Junction will have a villagelike layout, its buildings clustered here and there. A pedestrian bridge is to link the store pads fronting Highway 29 to a short village street. Across this street, a village green will separate the commercial space from the apartments. Shoppers can buy food and wine at the center, then stretch out on the green for a picnic.

The landscaping along Highway 29 will consist of evergreen plants. Freestanding pots and some 2,000 linear feet of split rail fences are among the other elements.

Even the Wal-Mart will blend into the look to avoid overwhelming the other buildings.“We developed a style, and they’ve adapted their look [to offer] a multiple building look,” said David Blair, an MCG design director.

The apartment complex and village green are scheduled for completion early next year. At press time construction of the Wal-Mart was stopped pending the outcome of a court hearing. An expansion-minded Nugget Market and a local grocery clerks’ union are doing their best to halt the work, though Wal-Mart and the developers have so far managed to frustrate those efforts. “My take is we have a very strong case,” Butler said. “[But] if it is delayed, we’ll sit and wait until it clears up.”

If everything proceeds on schedule, the retail space could be completed sometime during the first quarter. A later phase, predicated on the success of Wal-Mart, calls for 130,000 square feet of category-killer space. American Canyon, meanwhile, is set to kick off further development in the area.

“This is the one that is going to unlock access [for other projects],” Butler said.