By October, earth movers will break ground for yet another development in Hollister. This time, though, instead of more houses, Boise, Idaho-based Hawkins Companies will be building a 130,000-square foot retail center where as many as 17 news businesses could provide 100 or more new jobs for county residents, according to Bill Avera, city manager. The project will be located on two pieces property along the Highway 25 Bypass between Tres Pinos Road and Gibbs Drive, adjacent to Les Schwab Tire Center.
Hollister Mayor Ignacio Velazquez broke the news about the complex on May 11 on Facebook, where he said that two confirmed occupants are T.J. Maxx and Petco, with Panera Bread and Wendy’s still in negotiations to join the others. He said that he has been in conversations with Hawkins Companies for two years.
Velazquez, who has consistently objected to the growing number of housing subdivisions in favor of businesses, said the developer recently purchased the property from the Gibson family and is in the process of lining up more tenants.
“Panera Bread has been coming into town to check things out,” he said. “A lot of national chains are very interested in coming in. The developer is the same company behind Walgreens and Les Schwab.”
He said the company will be submitting its plans to the Hollister Planning Commission in June and hopes to break ground by September or October. He said Avera has been working closely with the company and that the developer hopes to have all tenants in the shopping center by the end of 2018.
“We’ve been waiting for this for a while,” Velazquez told BenitoLink. “This is a very good company and they’ve been moving through the process and it’s all coming together.”
Avera said he has been communicating with Hawkins Companies for nearly seven years. He said the city first worked with the company to bring Walgreens to Hollister, and then Les Schwab Tires. He said the company wanted to secure control of the two adjacent plots before moving forward with its newest project.
“They just couldn’t obtain them for a while,” Avera said, “so it was on them. But they already had a good relationship with the city and it paid off. They knew we were willing to help and go the extra mile, so they were willing to invest their time to finally get something done. It’s been a long road, but, hopefully, in the next couple years it will pay off.”
Initially, Hawkins Companies purchased the properties where Walgreens and Les Schwab Tire Center are located as it negotiated with the Gibson family for a number of years to purchase the remaining two properties. Avera attributed the deal to positive relationships between the company and city staff, as well as the willingness of the city council to move the process along.
“It might have been seven years, but once they had control of the land the city hasn’t sat on this,” he said. “That’s what gets lost a lot of times in the equation. Sometimes it takes a company like Hawkins to explain to the people in Hollister that they really do have a good council and staff working diligently on getting things done in a timely manner. The Les Schwab deal was titled in less than eight weeks. That doesn’t happen in every community and they know that. Time is money and once the clock starts running for these guys they move fast because development companies don’t make much money on bare ground. They have to build something.”
Avera said the company closed the deal on the property just days ago. The next step is to work on their drawings and then take them to the Planning Commission within a month or two.
“We may have a special meeting for them,” he said. “We like to do that to entice and encourage them. We’ll get to see the layout of the buildings because that doesn’t change once the Planning Commission reviews it. Then they’ll likely do as much of the site and architecture at that time, as far as signage. If they’re genuine about who they want to tell you who is going to be in there, you’ll start to see the various store names popping up.”
Avera projected that the city could eventually receive $600,000 to $900,000 in retail sales tax annually from the shopping center. He said he couldn’t guess how many construction jobs could result from the project, but estimated there might be as many as 130 retail jobs.
Hawkins Companies began developing commercial real estate in 1978, focusing on retail shopping centers development, according to the company’s website. It is a full-service real estate firm servicing clients through in-house staff. To date, the company has developed over 255 retail projects in 23 states in excess of 10.8 million square feet. It currently owns and manages more than 3.4 million square feet of retained commercial property. It has acquired sites and constructed and/or developed improvements for more than 400 different national, regional and local clients.