A proposal has been submitted for a new shopping center in the Folsom Ranch development, which would include the master planned community’s first grocery store.
Cupertino-based Hunter Properties Inc., which is in the process of developing The Shops at Folsom Ranch along East Bidwell Street just south of the Highway 50 interchange, has submitted a proposal seeking entitlements for a nearby grocery-anchored shopping center, which is being called Alder Creek Marketplace.
“The project was just recently submitted to the city and is in the early stages of the entitlement process,” said Christine Brainerd, communication director for the city of Folsom, in an email.
Brainerd said the proposal is seeking a planned development permit for the 95,000-square-foot shopping center.
The center would include four pads for drive-thru restaurants and a gas station, three multi-tenant shop buildings, and a 55,000-square-foot grocery anchor space, in addition to 423 on-site parking spaces, according to the proposal.
Alder Creek Marketplace is proposed for a lot across the street from The Shops at Folsom Ranch within the fast-growing master planned community that is expected to include thousands of new homes, retail projects, medical developments and a sports complex.
Josh Rupert, director of development for Hunter Properties, said his team is currently responding to comments from the city regarding the project. Aside from some additional studies needed, the city didn’t raise any major concerns about the initial proposal. Rupert said they plan to submit updated plans later this month with the hope of having the entitlement review no later than January 2024. As part of the project, the developer will be required to build roads to the west and south of the site.
“We would love to submit our building permit package sometime in the second or third quarter of next year, with construction starting in late-2024, but it will largely be dependent on the market,” Rupert said.
Rupert declined to state how much the project is estimated to cost.
Lease marketing for spaces at Alder Creek Marketplace has already started. Broker Steve Edwards of The Edwards Company said his team is currently talking to a number of potential tenants but no leases have been signed yet. The main priority is to secure the project’s grocery anchor first, but Edwards said they’ve received significant interest for the entire project.
Both Alder Creek Marketplace and The Shops at Folsom Ranch are being spearheaded by Hunter Properties and its capital partners PCCP LLC. Rupert said the partnership is bullish about the Folsom Ranch development.
“The ability to be surrounded by the amount of residential we will have here, the number of medical complexes, and frankly, the opportunity to be creative and start a project right at the beginning, at its infancy, for any development team you would jump at that chance,” Rupert said. “I will admit, we rarely get out of the Bay Area, but when we were approached by our capital partners about this opportunity at Folsom Ranch, it didn’t take long for us to say yes.”