Kimco Realty aims to redevelop part of Fremont retail center

A New York developer aims to cut a corner out of a Fremont shopping center to build more than 200 apartments.

Kimco Realty, owner of Gateway Plaza, has filed plans to build a 209-unit complex at 33900 Paseo Padre Parkway, the San Jose Mercury News reported. It would replace a building containing a 24 Hour Fitness Center.

The five-story complex would be built at the corner of the shopping center after demolishing the 26,600-square-foot gym.

The new apartments, designed by TCA Architects of Los Angeles, would be sheathed in white, and gray with a caramel trim. They would feature what appears to be a central courtyard, according to a rendering, with trees surrounding the entire complex.

A parking structure is expected to be part of the new development, according to a preliminary proposal.

The onset of the coronavirus more than two years ago jolted the retail sector, battered the restaurant industry and slammed the hotel and travel business worldwide and in the Bay Area.

Fitness centers were among the businesses hobbled by business shutdowns that state and local government agencies ordered in a quest to combat the virus, according to the Mercury News. The 24 Hour Fitness Center remains open.

The 192,100-square-foot Gateway Plaza is anchored by a Raley’s supermarket next to the development site. High-profile tenants include the Cine Lounge Fremont 7 Cinemas.

Kimco Realty believes the overall shopping center to be viable, according to its website, drawing shoppers from a “high-density, upper-income trade area with over 184,000 people within three miles and a large workplace.”

Last month, the developer proposed a similar development at its Fremont Hub shopping center at 39152 Fremont Hub. Plans call for demolishing nearly 70,000 square feet containing a CVS, Staples and other stores to make way for 314 apartments and a new drug store, according to SFYimby.

The redevelopment of part of Gateway Plaza and Fremont Hub comes during a general rebound by retail stores, with sales largely returning to pre-pandemic levels, according to a September report by Calabasas-based brokerage Marcus & Millichap.

“Store-based retail sales, which exclude automotive and gas purchases, as well as those made online or at bars and restaurants, ascended to a record mark in August,” the report said.
Retail real estate has made a comeback in tandem with in-store sales.
Examples in the East Bay include the Sand Creek Crossing Shopping Center in Brentwood changing hands last month for $495 per square foot, and Village Shopping Center in Danville closing for $303 per square foot.

— Dana Bartholomew