SARANAP VILLAGE: SITE BY SITE
Sites B and B1: Restaurant, Cafe, Retail, Condos
Second in a series
The other three parcels that make up Saranap Village would lie across Boulevard Way from Site A. The restaurant would be located at the east end of the development on Site B. The café and two retail stores would be located next to it in the building on Site B1. These two buildings are described below. The building on Site C, to the west, which would include only residences, will be the subject of a separate article.
Site B is where the Sufism Reoriented building and parking lot are today. It includes a narrow “panhandle” of land at the back of the property, between the Meridian (formerly Flora) Apartments on Flora Avenue and the Boulevard Terrace Condominiums on Boulevard Way, that’s used for a playground and garden. The large oak tree at the northeast corner of Sufism Reoriented’s parking lot would be moved to a “planter island” in a traffic circle on Boulevard Way just west of Flora.
Site B1 is a small triangular parcel wedged between Sites B and C. It consists of a portion of the former La Rosa’s/Boulevard Market and the existing driveway and guest parking area for the Boulevard Terrace condos. It would lie directly south of the roundabout at the Boulevard Way–Saranap Avenue intersection.
Site B: Restaurant and Condos
A 5,600-square-foot restaurant would be located on the ground floor of the building on Site B. Mark Hall, president and CEO of Hall Equities Group, which is developing the property, says his company is in talks with a well-known local restaurateur to operate the restaurant, but hasn’t named him publicly. The restaurant would include an outdoor dining area on Boulevard Way.
Rising above, on four levels, would be 62 one- and two-bedroom for-sale units with large windows and balconies. The lobby for these condos would be on the ground floor to the west of the restaurant. An “open-air atrium courtyard” for the building’s residents would be built between the wings of this U-shaped complex.
A clubhouse lounge, kitchen, pool, spa, and landscaped lawn would be located on the panhandle. This area would be for the use of residents of Buildings B, B1, and C. A roof terrace on the sixth floor of Building B would overlook the area. To the south, along the common property line with the Boulevard Terrace condos, would be a “green space” that incorporates existing trees.
There would be three levels of parking in the building, with a total of 225 spaces. Basement spaces would be for residents of the Buildings B and B1. Street-level and upper-level parking would be for shoppers and guests of residents of B1. The entrance to the garage would be on Boulevard Way, near the west end of the building.
Stairs to the upper level of the parking structure would be located off a walkway between the two sites. This walkway would be the main pedestrian access from the parking structure to the retail area on Boulevard Way.
Site B1: Cafe, Retail, and Condos
The ground floor of the four-story building on this 6,700-square-foot parcel would consist of two retail stores, totaling about 3,500 square feet, and the 2,135-square-foot Philz Café, which, like the market across the street and the restaurant, would have outdoor seating along Boulevard Way.
Six two-level, two-bedroom condos, which would be marketed as townhomes, would be located on the upper two floors. These would be for sale.
As noted above, residents of this building would park on the lower level of the parking garage in neighboring Building B. To reach their parking area, they would cross a footbridge over the walkway between the two buildings and take an elevator down two floors. Their guests would park in the street level-garage in Building B and take an elevator up to the bridge level and walk across.
Customers of the retail stores and café would also park in the Building B garage.
The Boulevard Terrace Condominiums driveway and guest parking lot, along with 10 of the residents’ garages, would be demolished to make room for Building B1. Ten new garages would be built, and a new driveway to the parking lot would be constructed between Sites B1 and C. The second level of Building B1 would be a 13-space parking garage for the exclusive use of Boulevard Terrace residents and their guests. They would enter it from the Boulevard Terrace parking lot.
The SCA thanks Michael Smith of Hall Equities Group for his assistance in the writing of this article.