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Stoddard's puts off its opening until next year
Planners extend building permits for new timetable
By Cecily Barnes
Ever since Stoddard's, a popular brew pub that has operated in Sunnyvale since 1993, announced plans to open a similar establishment in downtown Campbell, many local folks have been patiently waiting. Not just for the beer, but also for the picturesque, two-story restaurant and banquet hall that the brewery's owners have proposed.
According to the owner's original plan submitted to the city, the pub was scheduled to demolish the building now housing Tiny Tots Toys, at 200 East Campbell Avenue, by October or November of this year. Now it looks as if the wait will be longer.
On April 27, restaurant owner Bob Stoddard appeared before the city of Campbell Planning Commission to ask for an extension of his building permits. The permits, which allow his construction crew to ferry cement blasters, caterpillars and wrecking balls into downtown, were about to expire without so much as a puff of concrete dust.
"We are certainly still committed to our business going here in the downtown," Stoddard told the commission. "We just had to take a step back and see that all of our money was in place."
According to Stoddard, the $1 million loan he had planned to get from his former bank didn't pan out. Now Cupertino National Bank will be his new lender, and construction can finally begin.
The Planning Commission took just a few minutes to re-approve Stoddard's building permit.
Stoddard now expects the restaurant to open in just under one year.
Stoddard and beer lovers are not the only ones eager for the restaurant. The city of Campbell and the Redevelopment Agency have envisioned a revitalization plan for downtown Campbell, some part of which hinges on the foot traffic, customer base and general vitality that Stoddard's Brewhouse & Eatery will bring.
"We have lots of small restaurants and stores for the downtown which are good, but there's not a single sort of anchor that brings in a lot of people, that the other smaller businesses can kind of feed off of," explains Geoff Bradley, a coordinator with Campbell's Redevelopment Division. "It hasn't prevented other people from moving forward with their plans, but on a day-to-day level, it is frustrating because we've been telling people this is going to happen."
When the project was approved in May 1998, the Redevelopment Agency agreed to contribute $75,000 to help rebuild sidewalks and curbs on Campbell Avenue, Second Street and Orchard City Drive. This money is stillin city coffers waiting to be used.
"We had hoped that they would have moved forward sooner, but the money is available as soon as they're able to move forward on the project," says Campbell city manager Bernie Strojny.
City officials are also anxious for Stoddard's large banquet hall. As it stands right now, large banquets put on by the city or local agencies must be hosted in San Jose.
"It's one of the continuing frustrations of everyone in the city," Bradley says. "If you want to do any sort of banquet over 50, you have to go to San Jose."
On the other hand, Bradley points out, the temporary delay means that the new downtown parking structure, tentatively selected for Civic Center Drive between 2nd and 3rd streets will be that much closer to completion by the time Stoddard's is open.
Tim Aagard, who owns Tiny Tots with his wife Judy Sparling Aagard and her family, says he's happy to stay put until Stoddard's gets its act together.
"They'd like us to lease this from them until they're ready to move in," Aagard says. "We're happy to stay here because we're moving back to Railway Avenue and that's not ready yet."
The continued growth of downtown Campbell, however, is not on hold waiting for Stoddard's. Pockets, a billiards hall and pub, should be open by February or March of 2000, and a variety of retail uses will fill the bottom level of the new building at the Bank of America site.
In the last year alone, Katie Blooms, Inside-Out Home and Garden, Findz and Bruni's Art Gallery have opened up downtown.
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Campbell, California
