Golden Bear Redevelopment

Update – January 29, 2021

In August of 2019, the Board of Zoning and Planning (BZAP) approved a Final Development Plan for a proposed redevelopment of the Golden Bear Shopping Center. Led by attorney Don Plank—a member of the original development team for Arlington Gateway on Lane Avenue—the Golden Bear Redevelopment project would replace the existing shopping center and FC Bank building on the site, with a six-story, mixed-use project. The existing McDonald’s and cell tower would remain. This included conditional uses for multi-family residential and structured parking that would expire after six months if construction or the activity/use has not begun. Early in 2020, the applicant applied for a conditional use extension for an additional six months. This was approved by BZAP in February.

Under the approved Final Development Plan, the project would be comprised of a five-story mixed-use building featuring 79 residential units, 24,000 square feet of second floor office space, 22,144 square feet of ground floor retail/restaurant space, with a combination of 388 structured and surface parking spaces.

In April of 2020, the applicant submitted an amended Development Plan that increased the number of residential units from 79 to 102, removed 24,000 square feet of office space from the second floor, included 20,000 square feet of ground floor retail/restaurant space, and reduced the structured parking by 122 spaces. This amended plan was denied by BZAP in June and a subsequent appeal to City Council was heard and denied in September.

JANUARY 2021 UPDATE
The developer recently submitted another Final Development Plan application that proposed dividing the ground floor commercial space identified in the April 2020 proposal into 10,000 square feet of office space, and 12,000 square feet of retail/restaurant space. Upon Staff review of the proposed application, it was determined that it is substantially similar to the application that was denied last June. Pursuant to BZAP Rules and Regulations, substantially similar applications cannot be reviewed by the Board for a period of one year, unless there are significant changes, or new, consequential information has been provided. The application has not been scheduled for public review at this time.