FREMONT — Hundreds of homes could replace a big chunk of a prominent shopping center in Fremont, part of a wide-ranging transformation of the Bay Area retail sector in the wake of the coronavirus.
The housing would be built in a section of Gateway Plaza, a shopping center at the corner of Paseo Padre Parkway and Walnut Avenue in Fremont, according to a preliminary proposal on file with city officials.
The shopping center has addresses that include 39200 and 39300 Paseo Padro Parkway.
Kimco Realty, a real estate firm that invests in shopping centers, is Gateway Plaza’s owner and has proposed the housing development.
A proposed 209 apartments would be built in a corner of the shopping center, the Fremont municipal documents show.
The residences would be built on the site of a 24 Hour Fitness center at 33900 Paseo Padre Parkway. The fitness center totals about 26,600 square feet, according to the Fremont planning documents.
The project would bulldoze the fitness complex and replace it with apartment homes. A parking structure is also expected to be part of the new development, the plans show.
The onset of the coronavirus more than two years ago jolted the retail sector, battered the restaurant industry and slammed the hotel and travel business worldwide and in the Bay Area.
Fitness centers were among the countless businesses that were hobbled by business shutdowns that state and local government agencies ordered in a quest to combat the spread of the virus.
At present, the 24 Fitness building is listed by Kimco Realty as available for lease, according to a post on the real estate firm’s website.
The fitness center is still open, according to Google Maps and a call that was placed on Monday to the merchant’s phone number.
The residents of a housing development on that site would have immediate access to an array of amenities in the shopping center.
Raley’s Supermarkets is the anchor store of the center, whose other high-profile tenants include the Cine Lounge Fremont 7 Cinemas movie complex. The Raley’s is immediately adjacent to the development site.
The Gateway Plaza shopping center totals 192,100 square feet, according to the Kimco Realty website.
Even with the development proposal in the works, Kimco Realty states on its website that it deems the overall shopping center to be viable.
“Offering terrific shopping and entertainment choices, Gateway Plaza attracts consumers from this high-density, upper-income trade area with over 184,000 people within three miles and a large workplace,” Kimco states on the website for the Fremont shopping center.
