With one commissioner recusing herself from the vote, there was a deadlock among planners over what to do with an application for a restaurant and nightclub in downtown Hayward.

Club Me would set up shop at 926 B St., next to Newman Park. It would serve as a restaurant for lunch and dinner most days, and a nightclub on Friday and Saturday nights.

Some planners expressed concerns that police are already stretched thin and urged the applicant to pursue the restaurant without the club, citing a history of problems with downtown nightclubs. But others expressed confidence in the applicant, and said they should be given a chance to help revitalize downtown. Commissioners Mary Lavelle, Marvin Peixoto and Christopher Thnay voted against the club; Rodney Loche, Julie McKillop and Al Mendall for it. Elisa Marquez recused herself from the vote.

The item is slated to go before the City Council at its Dec. 15 meeting.

Police Lt. Reid Lindblom was at the meeting, and acknowledged that resources are thin, particularly after a 2 a.m. shift change. But he said the outcome of a bar or nightclub is ultimately dependent on its management.

“There are several bars downtown that have a very minimal impact on police resources,” he said. “That’s a credit to how the bar is run. But there’s another that’s off the chart.”

That bar, the Funky Monkey, is going before the Planning Commission at its next meeting, seeking a conditional use permit, per the city’s planning project list:

Funky Monkey – Request to operate a night club. A cover charge would be charged on Friday, Saturday, Sunday nights and special events. Special events include DJs, live music, fundraisers, etc.., daily am/pm.

Have you heard? After years of being subjected to its arguably clever commercials, Hayward residents will soon get to sample the Hot Fudge Shakes, Coney Dog & Tots, and Xtra-long Bacon Cheddar Cheese Steaks that come along with a Sonic Burger Drive-In.

The sign is up at the Fairway Park shopping center, and a wooden frame is rising at the former Arby’s site, 31187 Mission Blvd. While the official Bay Area Sonic Web site states a December opening, we contacted Rashid Cinos, the man behind the new Sonic.

“It’s a bit too early to touch bases,” Cinos said. “Give me two weeks. By then we should have some immediate milestones, a better idea of when we will be opening.”

Will do, Mr. Cinos. Last we heard, there was some design modification that had to be completed to make the site appropriate for the Sonic business model, which is carhop-style fast-food, with no indoor sit-down restaurant.

Jon Fong shot us an e-mail seeking more information about what he says is “quite some news” for a lot of people, at least his peers, who have been tantalized by the commercials but denied easy Sonic access.

Read Jon’s thoughts and more after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

Anyone care to weigh in on the prospect of a restaurant and nightclub in downtown Hayward? The idea is going before the Planning Commission tomorrow night, and they will make a recommendation one way or another for the City Council, who will have the final word.

Officials and the owner of the building say it’s a very exciting prospect and a good fit for the area, bringing in additional nightlife as well as providing a family restaurant during the day and most nights. There are also plans to host community-oriented events on Sundays, such as poetry readings and talent shows. 

Club managers are reportedly planning on spending upwards of $1 million to polish up the venue, which sits next to Newman Park. The building owner envisions opening up the brick wall that faces the park, with windows overlooking the greenery.

However, A CommPre director fears the worst, that clientele of a hip-hop/R&B club would scare people away from the area on Friday and Saturday nights. She said it would be like having Kumbala in the middle of downtown, and that Newman Park would suffer the ignobleness of drunken club patrons who would use it as a restroom or worse.

The Review will attend tomorrow night’s meeting to see if the proposal spurs debate, but we’d love to hear what HayWord readers think.

Any opinions on Hayward’s retail attraction study? A few residents have e-mailed with no small amount of skepticism, and there are some interesting comments attached to the story. Here’s the staff report and the Powerpoint presentation. The full 113-page Buxton report isn’t available online, but I can e-mail it to interested parties. Just drop me a line at ekurhi@bayareanewsgroup.com.

The East Bay Express pointed out that Hayward-based Sukhi’s Gourmet Indian Foods took top honors in the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade’s annual sofi awards. Sukhi’s samosas with chutney got first place in the “outstanding frozen savory” category, and also got a second place honor “outstanding diet and lifestyle product” for the Lean Fare Chicken Tikka Masala.

For those not in the know, sofi stands for “specialty outstanding food innovation.” The awards go to products you’ll find on shelves, fridges or freezers at retail stores rather than restaurants.

Now, where to get some of those fine Hayward delectables? Unfortunately, Sukhi’s store finder doesn’t find a samosa source closer than Oakland, and neither product is in their online catalog.

But congratulations to Sukhi, regardless! A very impressive national showing.

There’s one less auto recycler around after Pick Your Part closed its NorCal scrap yards, including the one at the end of W. Winton Road. Sure, there are plenty of other such recyclers in the industrial areas near the shoreline, but I have fond memories of the octopus yard as the site of great bounty: Cheap parts for a 1966 Volvo 1800S  back in the mid ’90s.

Even then, good specimens were a rare find in a scrap yard, and after an exhaustive search, PYP proved to be a veritable treasure chest of old Swedish iron.

Not sure why they closed — the guy at the PYP number confirmed that both Hayward and Milpitas branches are gone, but had no idea why. Seems like an auto recycler would do well during a recession. Will look into it.

The latest list of potential post office closures, released earlier this month, still includes the historic downtown Hayward Bradford branch as well as the little Mt. Eden facility. When they first announced the possible closures in the summer, it included nearly 700 branches nationwide. That was whittled down to 413 in August, now 371. Also still on the list are the Niles and Mission San Jose branches in Fremont, as well as branches in Richmond, Berkeley, Oakland, San Francisco and San Pablo.

With about 70 branches on the list, California has nearly one-fifth of the possible closings. A final list is expected in December, and closings would begin at the earliest in January. The closures will save the Post Office between $20 million and $100 million annually.

The series of meetings and design sessions aimed at coming up with a form-based code for the area around the South Hayward BART station wraps up on Sunday, with a 5 p.m. presentation of the results at the City Hall council chamber. Designers will be in production mode through the weekend, but the public is invited to stop by. The process included a field trip to the site earlier this week, at which nearly two dozen residents accompanied city officials and the consultants.

“There were a lot of seniors, longtime residents of the area who were very engaging,” said Laura Hall of consultant firm Hall Alminana. “A lot of them are scared by the current conditions, frightened to go out even during the day.”

Residents also got to weigh in on what they’d like to see in the area using green and red dots. A cursory look found that sit-down restaurants and a full-service grocery are most desireable, while fast-food joints and discount stores had few fans. The next step will be taking the results of the charrette before the City Council for review.

Director of Development Services David Rizk said he hopes to have the Sunday’s presentation available online early next week. Here’s the city’s page dedicated to the project.

In case you haven’t taken a look at the storefronts surrounding the downtown Century Theater on B Street, here’s the latest poster advertising a new tenant. According to the city’s economic development manager Sean Brooks, a lease has been signed for the upper floor of the corner retail location — that’s prime real estate.

“After they move in, (the storefronts) will be about 50 percent occupied,” said Brooks, who added that the business has “piqued a lot of interest.”

Brooks said the all-you-can-eat buffet will open in early 2010. It will join frozen-yogurt vendor Zuckersuss and Wingstop, with three more storefronts yet to be rented.

The new south Hayward Costco Wholesale warehouse store is scheduled to arrive in the nick of time for those planning huge Thanksgiving feasts –Costco reps say they plan to open on Nov. 24. It’s going to be the biggest Costco around, and they plan to have an opening day celebration including numerous “roadshows” — that’s what Costco calls it when they bring in goods not normally carried, which could be anything from fine art to specialized mattresses to pool tables to solar panels to grand pianos.

As for what else is coming to the area around Hesperian and Industrial boulevards, that’s more ambiguous. 24 Hour Fitness has yet to apply for a building permit, although a large facility was approved at the same time as the Costco. We’ll have a story in the Review about it this weekend.