Claremont Insider: Peppertree Square Facelift in the Offing

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Peppertree Square Facelift in the Offing

Peppertree Square, the small shopping center at the southeast corner of Arrow Hwy. and Indian Hill Blvd., is almost ready for its long-overdue renovation. The City's website has all the information, along with a couple watercolor renderings of what the center will look like.

Here's what the City has to say about the matter:

Peppertree Square Redevelopment Plans (Jan 21, 2010)

The City of Claremont is working closely with the property owners and broker of the Peppertree Square Shopping Center, located at the southeast corner of Indian Hill Boulevard and Arrow Highway, to improve the site and attract new tenants. Based on feedback from the community, the City, property owners, and broker have developed a plan to renovate the center and bring in two anchor tenants and several small retail shops. In a gap analysis performed earlier this year, residents expressed a desire for a grocery store in the southern portion of the city.

The broker is in negotiations with a major pharmacy and grocery store to occupy the two proposed major vacancies. The grocery tenant's lease is conditioned upon a pharmacy locating into the center. The pharmacy interested in the site requires a drive thru. Staff will be bringing a drive thru ordinance to the City Council which would allow bank and pharmacy drive thrus in the City upon securing a conditional use permit.

Wheeler Architects is preparing the design for the renovation which will be reviewed by the Architectural Commission, Planning Commission, and Council before final approval. The proposed renovations will include new construction and renovation of some of the existing retail space.

The Peppertree renovation has dragged on for almost two years now, and the drive thru may be a sticking point. Claremont bans these, and we suspect that a few people - former mayor and self-appointed town historian Judy Wright comes to mind - would strongly oppose an ordinance allowing for drive thrus. We'll see if the need for sales tax revenue trumps the desire to maintain Claremont's ban.