During its 60 years as one of Marin’s busiest shopping hubs, the Northgate mall has undergone a number of significant transformations.
There have been extensions, transformation from an open-air mall to a covered one and shops have been added along its exteriors.
Companies have come and gone.
The 2018 closing of Sears, one of the mall’s longtime anchor stores, signaled another transformation. It certainly signaled the ongoing struggle for brick-and-mortar stores in the face of the growth of online shopping.
The mall’s owner developed plans to turn the Sears site into a Costco, only to withdraw its plans after stiff neighborhood opposition to plans to add a gas station.
City Hall pushed for housing, perhaps not as many apartments as the owners want to see, but an opportunity to meet a community need.
The San Rafael City Council has given the green light to mall Merlone Geier Partners’ plans to transform the mall into a 1,422-home “square,” the largest residential development seen in Marin in years.
Located next to the highway and close to thoroughfare makes the mall a natural for a major development.
Traffic experts, on behalf of the city, assess that the change of commercial areas to housing will reduce traffic. The traffic flow to and from a busy shopping center is greater than from residential developments, they say.
The council’s approval includes a condition that the city evaluate traffic conditions after completion of the first phase — 864 units — to determine if other traffic improvements are needed.
The development should also help the city meet its state-mandated ambitious housing quota of adding 3,220 new homes by 2031.
Many neighbors question the size of the development, which will be built in stages.
But others see the development as meeting a community need and offering an opportunity to transform the struggling center into a vibrant live/work location that will continue to provide commercial space as well as community gathering space.
Having more than the planned 143 units designated as “affordable” would have been a stronger response to the local need for workforce housing.
Just as the construction of the mall brought change when it opened in 1965, the plan is a new chapter in the property’s role as an economic hub.
In voting to approve the plan, Councilor Maika Llorens said, “It’s the vision of being able to live and work and being able to come together in one place, which I think can really bring life and new energy to Northgate.”
Councilwoman Rachel Kertz, whose district includes Northgate and the surrounding neighborhoods, said, “Instead of fearing change, I choose to face it with curiosity and excitement and commitment to building something remarkable together.”
Councillors, including Mayor Kate Colin, said the plan is shaping the mall to meet the needs and demands of the future.
Many neighbors are more scared than impressed. They are wary of change, especially the addition of more than 1,400 townhouses and apartments.
It is change. A big change – for them, San Rafael and our county.
Its design, affordability and accommodation for the housing development and the phasing of construction will be important to its success.
Merlone Geier must remain aware that many of its Terra Linda neighbors are more worried than amazed by the change. Its success in proving its vision to the market and neighbors is important to fulfilling the promise of the plan.
For most of its history, Northgate has been a significant economic engine for San Rafael, generating sales and property tax revenue, jobs and a place to gather, dine and shop. The addition of housing and the reshaping of the center should strengthen that role.
This is an important property and Merlone Geier now has the city’s approval to move forward with an important project, one better suited for the future.
