The San Benito Blueprint

1. New Retail Opportunities Available Now Or Coming Soon
2. Multiple Shopping Centers Proposed For the Not to Distant Future
3. My Take

New Retail Opportunities Available Now Or Coming Soon

With continued growth comes an increase in shopping and commercial opportunities. The county has seen an increase in retail offerings/services in the last few years and that trend looks to continue.

Hollister Farms began the recent retail boom bringing in ~120,000 square feet of retail space. According to LoopNet and Hawkins Companies website there is an anchor space available of about 18,000 sq ft, a shop space of 2500 square feet in a smaller 7900 square foot building that is otherwise notably leased (no word on the tenants though Sourdough and Co could be moving into the space), and a 3000 square foot pad space along Highway 25 that was once marked for a Denny’s. The larger of the available space was once marketed for a potential hotel but based on current flyers and marketing tools it looks as though the focus has shifted to a new retail anchor tenant. The proposed retail strip west of the under construction Wendy’s is likely to be the next piece of the center to be constructed.

Santana Ranch recently began advertising a new shopping center for lease with the potential for +/- 65,000 square feet of new retail opportunities at the corner of Hillcrest and Fairview Roads. Anderson Homes has partnered with the Econic Company to market the shopping center.

The shopping center is envisioned as a grocery store anchored shopping center with the potential for a gas station, drive-thru restaurant, car wash and many other uses. Note the site plan in the below image is conceptual and the actual center could look different depending on the tenants. The Santana Ranch Specific Plan allows for up to 106,000 square feet of neighborhood and commercial uses.

Former Kmart Space

Our reasoning for including the former Kmart site in this piece about new retail availability is two-fold. The first is that it involves a multi-billion dollar corporation that has begun moving assets of former Kmart and Sears locations in the last two years. Their focus is on demising (dividing into smaller spaces) and redeveloping properties. The second is, quite simply, at 86,199 square feet, it’s huge. Marketing materials last updated in November 2024 market the site as available for demise or development. The site is currently being marketed by Jones Lang LaSelle IP Inc.

Multiple Shopping Centers Proposed For the Not to Distant Future

San Juan Oaks has approval for a 65,000 SQ ft neighborhood commercial shopping center, 200 room resort hotel, and an approximately four acre
assisted living/skilled nursing/memory care facility with up to 100 beds. The shopping center, resort hotel, and assisted living space are all listed as “Phase 5” of the San Juan Oaks development according to the specific plan.

Ridgemark Towne Center & Ridgemark Row

Ridgemark has an overall larger expansion proposed but for this article we will be diving into the commercial aspect only. Currently, Ridgemark has the approval for a 20,000 square foot commercial development, see above for renderings and below (in white) for the site location. This approval comes from a conditional use permit approved in 2011 and then amended in 2018.

The newer expansion plans include the addition of 2 additional commercial locations. The first is “area B” which is at the intersection of 25 & Fairview totaling 15,000 square feet and the second is “area C” totaling 30,300 square feet further down Ridgemark Drive. “Area D” sandwiched between all 3 spaces is also included in the proposal which is marked for a 154 room 107,000 square foot resort hotel. In total, the approved and proposed commercial areas with hotel equal to about 172,000 square feet of new commercial space.

The catch here is that the Ridgemark plans have been relatively quiet and the majority of the commercial expansion has not yet been approved. We reached out to Farmhouse Communications who were previously associated with the Ridgemark Towne Center to no avail. We will update this post if we hear back.

Gavilan College Campus Supporting Retail

Likely further off into the future is the previously reported Gavilan College expansion with supporting retail. This is likely to be campus housing/college specific with 35,000 square feet of retail space.

My Take

This is a lot of retail/commercial, in total equaling over 300,000 square feet in new or soon to be improved retail space! That’s a lot of potential tax revenue for all jurisdictions involved.

The Hollister 2040 General Plan estimated that the city loses out on $26 million a year due to “retail leakage,” or residents who shop outside of the city due to a lack of suitable retailers here. The general plan points specifically to a lack of clothing and clothing accessory stores, general
merchandise stores, and home furnishing stores. This translates to about $700 per capita annually (per resident) for the City of Hollister, whereas the greater AMBAG (Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments [ie all of Monterey, Santa Cruz and San Benito Counties]) amounts to just $30 of leakage.

While we need and look forward to the additional retail, we hope that the plethora of local businesses looking to expand or set up shop will be able to take advantage of these opportunities. San Benito County has no shortage of entrepreneurial spirit as evidenced by our many small businesses. So if you see a space, new or existing, that fits your needs, get after it.

As for the rest of us, we could all put a little more effort into shopping & dining locally.