New deli, restaurant, housing proposed for Boyes Food Center location

Ambitious renovation of key Boyes Springs corner to include 37 housing units, plus restaurant, deli and other retail.|

After months of speculation on the fate of the Boyes Food Center building and surrounding property, the curtain was lifted last Thursday at a meeting of the Springs Community Alliance.

At the Feb. 15 gathering of the neighborhood group, Tim Sloat, development manager for KS Mattson Partners, made a presentation that gave shape to the 1.26- acre property and the new name for the food center within the development – Boyes’ Best.

“It would be a version of Sonoma’s Best over here, but it would not have wine-tasting,” said Sloat, referring to the Sonoma’s Best deli on East Napa Street, also owned by KS Mattson Partners. “It would have a different vibe that would be compatible to the neighborhood.”

Sonoma’s Best is one of Ken and Stacy Mattson’s local developments, along with the “Noodle Springs” container complex just a couple blocks up the road, and the residences going up on the corner of Moon Mountain Road, to the northwest up Highway 12.

The mixed-use zoning suits the Mattsons’ goals of introducing not only an eventual renovation of the Boyes Food Center’s market – currently under lease until 2021, according to Sloat – but the chance to execute the development in waves, with the eight townhouse-style housing units on the eastern part of the property, another retail building to the north side of the market, before finally tackling the market renovation itself.

Both the new building and the refurbished food center will have small apartments in the second story above them, bringing the total of housing units to 37, some as small as 350-square-foot studios, to 1,700-square-foot four-bedroom townhouses.

Of these, Sloat emphasized, over 20 percent would fall in the affordable housing category, for middle to extremely low-income residents.

“The project is committed to adding housing stock to the community without dislocating any residents,” he said. “Existing residents will be accommodated in a variety of ways – I don’t want anyone thinking that we’re just gentrifying and kicking (people) out.”

From the computer-generated video tour of the proposal – a drone-like fly-through of the three-dimensional architect’s renderings, with no humans, vehicles, or even other buildings visible – it appears the signature vertical sign that marks the corner of Sonoma Highway and Calle del Monte would remain, but the rest of the building would be extensively upgraded into midcentury deco-style – housing a deli, coffee shop and “fresh foods,” to judge by the signage.

“This is not a final design, but the spirit will be a more historic nature,” said Sloat, citing 1930s and ‘40s architecture as a model. Second-story offices or residences would be placed above the corner store, and outdoor dining was visualized to emphasize a pedestrian-friendly neighborhood “vibe.”

Next door to the north of the food center, another mixed used commercial and residential building would go up, possibly to house a restaurant or café and other smaller businesses. Again, small apartments would be placed above the commercial floor.

But while the Highway-facing buildings are the most visible component of the property and the plan, they would be the elements to be built, said Sloat, following development of a new housing complex on the Calle del Monte side that would tear down five existing small homes, but not before finding housing for the current residents.

The resulting eight townhomes would be two- or three-level residences, of three or four bedrooms. Parking would be supplied at ground level for these townhomes, but there would also be an underground parking garage behind the new commercial building at Arroyo and Highway 12, with “lifts” to move cars down to the appropriate parking level.

“Lifts are very established in cities like Oakland but kind of cutting edge here,” said Sloat.” But,” he added, “sometimes it’s cool to be cutting edge.”

In his 20 minutes before the Springs Community Alliance meeting at La Luz, Sloat took pains to repeat that the Mattsons, though “newish-comers,” were committed to the Valley community and conscientious about doing the right thing.

“In fact they could lose money on this project, frankly,” said Sloat. “It’s not a project for the faint-of-heart... It’s a project to invest in the community and put our best foot forward, as newcomers.”

Contact Christian at christian.kallen@sonomanews.com.

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