Quick Take

The Capitola Mall's future as a housing development is on the agenda for the city's planning commission this week, Driscoll's invests at Cal Poly and a commercial crabbing delay are all in focus in Jessica M. Pasko's weekly survey of Santa Cruz County business.

Each week, we’re taking a closer look at the movers and shakers, the growth of industries and what’s really driving the Santa Cruz County economy. I’ll be spotlighting some of the biggest areas for opportunity, updates on local development and all things underpinning the regional business scene each Wednesday.

Got ideas? Send them my way to news@lookoutlocal.com with “Business News” in the subject line.

Capitola Mall redevelopment project inches forward with special planning commission meeting Thursday

Plans to transform the aging Capitola Mall into a new housing development are moving forward, with amending the zoning codes among the first steps that need to happen. On Thursday at 5 p.m., the city’s planning commission will hear from city staff about several elements, including design standards, building height, parking requirements and more. 

The goal is to have the site rezoned for development as soon as January. 

Plans to redevelop the mall to include housing have been discussed for years, but the project finally got a kickstart in September when the city council voted to push ahead with necessary zoning code updates. Once the rezoning process is complete, the mall’s owner and developer, San Francisco-based Merlone Geier Partners, can move forward with designing a project and submitting a formal application for redevelopment. 

The proposed redevelopment of the Capitola Mall into a mixed-use project that includes housing units follows a national trend. 

Across the country, aging malls are being repurposed into mixed-use housing as many traditional anchor stores like Sears and Macy’s have closed, consumers lean toward online shopping and the housing gap grows larger. According to a recent Newsweek article, as of January 2024, there were at least 192 shopping malls around the country planning to convert space into apartments. 

Driscoll’s invests $5 million for new on-campus farm store in San Luis Obispo

The Cal Poly San Luis Obispo campus at sunrise
The Cal Poly San Luis Obispo campus. Credit: Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

Watsonville-headquartered berry giant Driscoll’s will help fund a new store on the California Polytechnic State University campus in San Luis Obispo that’s aimed at teaching the university’s College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences students skills that include marketing and consumer engagement.

The farm store will be located within the school’s 6-acre Plant Sciences Complex and will give students hands-on experience in growing, producing, marketing and selling produce grown on campus and student-made products like barbecue sauce and chocolate. Construction is set to begin next year, with opening planned for 2027. 

Brie Reiter Smith, the recently appointed vice chair of Driscoll’s board of directors and the daughter of former CEO J. Miles Reiter, is an alumna of Cal Poly. In a statement released by the university, Reiter Smith said, “I’m thrilled Driscoll’s gets to be part of creating new learning opportunities that will prepare the next generation of industry leaders to bring innovation and entrepreneurial spirit to the food system.”

Driscoll’s will also get to name the new store.

ICYMI: Commercial Dungeness crab season faces another year of delays across Santa Cruz County 

Crab fishing traps in the Santa Cruz Harbor. Credit: Kevin Painchaud / Lookout Santa Cruz

State officials have delayed the commercial Dungeness crab season for a seventh consecutive year to protect whales from becoming entangled in fishing gear.

California Department of Fish and Wildlife officials said the agency will reassess conditions for migrating whales in mid-December to determine if commercial fishing can start around Jan. 1. Recreational crabbing will open Nov. 1, with some restrictions.

The announcement comes after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released a report last month that showed a steep increase in large whale entanglements nationwide – with 95 confirmed whale entanglements in 2024 versus 64 in 2023. Read more here.

The 2024-25 crabbing season opened about six weeks after the season’s historical Nov. 15 start date, and was marked by unusually low crab stocks, as Lily Belli detailed here.

Ch-ch-changes

  • West Coast Community Bank hires two in San Luis Obispo: Santa Cruz-headquartered West Coast Community Bank announced two new hires for its operations in San Luis Obispo County. Deanna Elmerick is the bank’s new vice president and relationship manager, overseeing deposit acquisition, client relationships and business development there. Rob Osterbauer joins the bank as senior vice president and regional president, to head up the bank’s strategic direction and operational performance for San Luis Obispo County.
  • Insomnia Cookies opens in downtown Santa Cruz: A national cookie chain specializing in late-night deliveries has opened its first store in Santa Cruz. The new Insomnia Cookies is located at 1010 Pacific Ave., next to Mariposa Coffee Bar and Terra Superfoods. Insomnia Cookies was started by a college student in Pennsylvania in 2003 and now has more than 350 stores.
  • Ross Dress for Less reopens in Santa Cruz: The new Ross Dress for Less store is now open in the former Office Max location in Gateway Plaza on River Street in Santa Cruz. It’s one of 36 stores the discount retail chain has opened across 17 states in September and October. The chain shuttered its store on the other side of the Gateway Plaza in August 2024, making way for New Leaf Community Markets to open.
  • RFP deadline extended for new Pacific Station South project: Santa Cruz city officials are seeking proposals from qualified businesses to lease a new retail/restaurant space at 810 Pacific Ave. The 3,688-square-foot space is on the ground floor of the city’s Pacific Station South project. Proposals are due Dec. 31. Full details and submission instructions are available here through the city’s procurement portal.

Got hires, promotions, or departures to report? Send them to news@lookoutlocal.com with the subject line “Career changes.”

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Save the date 

  • Thursday, Oct. 30: The Santa Cruz Area Chamber of Commerce will hold the Women’s Leadership Summit at Mission Springs Conference Center in Scotts Valley from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Speakers include state Assemblymember Gail Pellerin, Santa Cruz Regional Transportation Commission Executive Director Sarah Christensen, Capitola Police Chief Sarah Ryan and Judi Oyama, Hall of Fame skateboarder, among others. Tickets are $125 for chamber members and $150 for non-members. More details here.
  • Thursday, Oct. 30: Access2Employment is hosting a job fair at The Grove, formerly known as the Cocoanut Grove, in Santa Cruz from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Registration is here. Businesses that plan to hire in the coming months are invited to sign up to participate; more details here.
  • Wednesday, Nov. 5: The Santa Cruz Area Chamber of Commerce will hold its next business after-hours event at Cruzio Internet at 877 Cedar St., Suite 150, in Santa Cruz from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. This will be the chamber’s annual business friendsgiving networking event, featuring seasonal refreshments and an update on Cruzio’s ongoing efforts to expand broadband access throughout the county. At the event, the chamber also will be collecting donations for Community Foundation’s Equal Access Santa Cruz County fund, which supports affordable internet access for underserved households. Tickets are available here.
  • Thursday, Nov. 6: The Santa Cruz Area Chamber will hold a ribbon-cutting for the newest location of Pacific Valley Bank. The Salinas-based bank’s first Santa Cruz County branch is located at 720 Front St. in downtown Santa Cruz. The event takes place from 5 to 7 p.m. 

Add your business or networking events to Lookout’s free public calendar, BOLO. Click here to add your event.

Business news worth reading

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Jessica M. Pasko has been writing professionally for almost two decades. She cut her teeth in journalism as a reporter for the Associated Press in her native Albany, New York, where she covered everything...