At yesterday’s Town Council meeting, the Council voted unanimously (6-0, Mayor Saji George was absent) to approve the site plan for a large (19,000 square feet) retail/restaurant space on the East side of Belt Line Road, just south of our new Tom Thumb grocery store.
According to the site plan, it will have 9,000 square feet for restaurant space, 10,000 square feet for retail–and no drive thrus. Instead, the space will have two large patios, on the North and South ends of the building. The developer hasn’t committed to how many tenants there will be, but I count ten sets of doors in their architectural drawings. However, the developer estimates it would take 12-15 months for total build-out of the space before a grand opening (2-3 months for permitting, 7 months of construction of the shell, then 3-6 months for tenants to build out their spaces). So we can look forward to visiting these shops sometime Spring 2027.
Our resident developer Deric Salser (builder for Tom Thumb and many other buildings in the town) spoke in support of the site plan, and praised the quality of materials going into its construction saying that this will be the most costly retail building ever constructed in Sunnyvale. The plan calls for multiple coursings of white stone, a high end cement fiber product called Nichiha that was also used in Tom Thumb, stucco, and heat-resistant glass that will be able to handle the afternoon sun on this West-facing building. Deric also noted that he had given the developers guidance on the style and appearance of the building before they submitted this plan.
Sunnyvale Director of Planning & Development Surupa Sen noted that some parts of the site plan don’t meet Sunnyvale’s architectural requirements, but the Planning & Zoning Board already met about this site plan and approved it. Council member Finch pressed Sen about what features didn’t meet the town’s requirements; the main issue appears to be that the plan doesn’t highlight one or a couple key entry locations. Every tenant space has its own entrance and awning, which may make the space look very repetitive.
Regardless of these concerns, both the P&Z Board and now Town Council have signed off on the project with broad support. For the Town, this is likely going to increase the higher-end shopping options for residents on that Belt Line Road strip, keeping sales tax revenue within Sunnvyale. I am not aware of any sales tax concessions made to Tom Thumb for entering the Town (besides the payouts made by the Town and 4B for opening on time), but we will probably have to wait until at least this summer to see how much these new developments are boosting growth in the Town.
