The Sun
Sunnyvale's Newspaper

Buyer bids $10 million for Town & Country

Deal could close in January for 30-year-old shopping center

By Steve Enders

Business owners at Town & Country Village in Sunnyvale have been put on notice: the shopping center may soon be sold.

A proposed contract of sale for $10 million has been agreed upon between current owner Ronald Williams and an unnamed buyer.

Property manager Cole Bridges said he expects nothing to change at the center, although he said new owners could do anything they wanted to with the property, pending approval from the city.

However, "all indications are that it will stay the same," he said, meaning a retail focus at the mall will likely remain. "[The buyer] is interested in keeping it retail."

Town & Country Village in Sunnyvale was built and first opened in 1967, with construction finishing in 1969. The property has been under the same ownership during its 30-year history.

Escrow on the property has not been closed yet or even reached at this point, according to Bridges, but he said Williams is not accepting any new bids on the property.

Williams could not be reached at press time.

Business owners were given notices of the imminent sale of the Village on Nov. 24, but not many employees working in retail stores knew anything about it. Even fewer were willing to talk about it.

Those that did talk didn't want their names used, and attitudes were generally suspicious about the sale because property taxes and rents could go up, thus forcing some businesses to move or, worse, close down for good.

Although he didn't know details of the possible sale of Town & Country, Sunnyvale's community relations director David Vossbrink said the city "has a vested interest" in what happens to the lot the Village sits on.

Others in Sunnyvale are also interested because the center provides ample parking for customers of downtown merchants.

If a new property owner were to develop the Village lot into something other than retail space and eliminate parking, it could have an adverse effect on other local businesses as well.

Robert Patane, general manager of Stoddard's Brewhouse and Eatery on Murphy Avenue, which is adjacent to Town & Country, said many of his customers park in the center's lots, and that the loss of any parking could hurt business at the restaurant.

"There's a problem now," Patane said.

"People come in at lunchtime and tell you there's no place to park, so if there was less, I think it could be more of a problem."

Even though a sale has not been finalized, Bridges said that a deal could be closed as soon as mid-January.

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This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, December 10, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.