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9.A - Page 1 <br /> RE PO RT <br /> To the Honorable Mayor and City Council <br /> From the Cit Mana er <br /> June 10, 2013 <br /> SUBJECT <br /> Block 2 Study Session <br /> RECOMMENDATION <br /> There is no recommendation, as this is a Study Session. <br /> BACKGROUND <br /> The Hunter Storm development group is preparing to move its 300,000 square foot <br /> office project forward to the Planning Commission for review on June 18, 2013, and City <br /> Council review on July 22, 2013. Staff has coordinated the design and project with the <br /> Block 2 subcommittee of Council members Foust and Seybert, with our last discussion <br /> May 29, 2013. <br /> ANALYSIS <br /> The intent of the discussion is to inform the Council of some modifications to the Precise <br /> Plan that are recommended by staff to enable the development of the proposed project, <br /> to give the Council a preview of the architecture, most importantly the materials and the <br /> quality of those materials, and discuss the parameters of the Disposition and <br /> Development Agreement. Decisions on the project and other related documents, such <br /> as conformance with the Downtown Precise Plan, the DDA, and the environmental <br /> review, is anticipated at the Council's July 22 meeting. <br /> The Downtown Precise Plan anticipated either the elevation or burying of the railroad <br /> lines that run through Downtown to accommodate potential high speed rail. With the <br /> current vision of HSR being a blended system with an electrified Caltrain system, the <br /> rails will remain at grade. Consequently, neither Hamilton Street nor Theatre Way will <br /> extend on the surface across railroad tracks and the project site, through the future <br /> development of Sequoia Station, to EI Camino Real. The Precise Plan anticipated the <br /> opportunity to accommodate a bend in Hamilton Street at the project site by creating a <br /> traffic circle (the project was formerly construed as Depot Circle) to turn the street to the <br /> grid on the EI Camino Real side of the downtown. This conceptual circle enabled this <br /> transition, but rendered the City-owned Winslow Street property a difficult development <br /> site and created an odd development parcel across Winslow Street on the block <br /> housing the Fox Theatre. To enable better development on all of the properties at this <br />