By Linda Taaffe

A landmark building with mixed-uses that would draw a variety of people to downtown Los Altos would best fit the .78-acre city-owned lot at the corner of First and Main streets, urban designer David Gates told the Los Altos City Council last week.

Gates, who developed the city’s Downtown Urban Design Plan, said the ideal development would include an outside public plaza at the corner of First and Main, a 12-foot sidewalk along Main Street, ground-level retail space fronting First Street and underground parking.

“Intensity is important,” he said. The corner development should create “synergy” downtown by adding a variety of activities that would help other downtown activities. “You will get vital uses in a part of town that doesn’t get much use,” he added.

The city purchased the First and Main street property in 1995 with the long-term goal of improving the appearance of Main Street and creating more downtown parking. The city has been negotiating with developers since 1999 to find a project that would best fit the lot, which houses The Home Consignment Center, Nielsen’s Martinizing Dry Cleaning and a 55-space parking lot.

Four proposals were on the table last week including three plans with hotel/restaurant/retail combinations from developers Roxy Rapp & Company, Kelly Associates and Barry Swenson Builder and one theater/housing combination from Barry Swenson.

Gates said he considered the First and Main site one of downtown’s most important corners.

“That corner is a window from Foothill Expressway. It gives people an impression of what happens inside (downtown),” he said. “This is an opportunity to create legibility for what’s inside … That legibility is critical.”

The First and Main development should create a continuation of what downtown already has: a central and social destination with a small village character, he said.

Gates made the following recommendations based on the physical design of potential projects, rather than the economic impact of a particular land use.

The city should consider a development of “size and importance with lots of use” that would create an obvious gateway and “pinch off” or protect downtown from Foothill Expressway’s traffic.

“Intensity of use is no problem on any of the (proposed) themes, unless it’s bringing in too many automobiles at the wrong time,” he said.

“I think it’s a very successful site, and can’t see any of the (proposals) going wrong.”

Gates said parking shouldn’t dominate the character of the project.

“Bring the car in, get it underground and out of the way,” he said.

He favored placing office space rather than housing at the site, saying offices would bring in a greater variety of people, which could add to the downtown synergy.

He said a theater would help vitalize downtown, but the site would accommodate a specialty, niche theater rather than a main-stream type of multiplex theater.

This type of theater would more than likely feature films that would attract an adult audience.

He said if the theater isn’t the “right kind” for the Los Altos audience, it might not work.

“There wouldn’t be many matinees or much drop-off of kids there,” he said.

The Los Altos City Council was scheduled to meet with neighbors last Tuesday to discuss the First and Main property.