By Sean Howell |
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Almanac Staff Writer
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avid Bohannon is a familiar figure around Menlo Park. Approachable and thoughtful, with an easy manner, he’s the senior vice president and public face of his family’s development company, which owns hundreds of acres in east Menlo Park. You might have seen him walking his dog, Tule, or in a council meeting, tucking in his shirttails as he makes his way to the podium, responding to a question from a public official. His name is the so linked to the “Menlo Gateway” project, a proposal for an office/ hotel complex near Marsh Road and Bayfront Expressway totaling nearly 1 million square feet, that most people know it better as the Bohannon project. So you would be forgiven for thinking of Mr. Bohannon as the sole figure behind the proposal, though he is its guiding force. In fact, he works with a team of trusted advisers, and is backed by a number of contractors and consultants, engaged in the work required to simply present the proposal to the City Council. The Bohannon Development Co. has employed 70 consultants or contractors in the design, evaluation and communication phases of the project, an effort to which it has devoted $7.5 million over the past six years. It’s a sizable operation, to be sure, but one that’s geared toward producing a project that will suit Menlo Park well, he says. Though scores of professionals have been involved in the effort to develop the proposal and present it to the city, Mr. Bohannon maintains that the company’s core commitment to the community remains intact. Meanwhile, a handful of community activists and two council members have voiced concerns about the way the proposal is being communicated, saying they fear Mr. Bohannon is trying to pressure the council into approving the project at terms favorable to his company. “Didn’t like any of it”
During an interview in the coffee shop above Draeger’s market two weeks ago, Mr. Bohannon recalled a project he worked on in the late 1990s to develop a small parcel of land near the train tracks at Marsh Road, on the fringe of the Lorelei Manor neighborhood. He held meetings in living rooms and went door-to-door, trying to sell neighbors on proposals for a gas station/ car wash, a multi-tenant retail building, a stationary store, a fast food restaurant — something that would serve the occupants of nearby office buildings. “The neighborhood didn’t like any of it,” he said. After a failed study session, Arlinda Heineck, then the city’s development services manager, suggested an office building. It would be tough to make it pencil out — he had to persuade two family members who owned different parcels to form a partnership, in order to share the risk — but the neighbors liked it, and the council eventually approved it. “This is the game I have to play,” Mr. Bohannon said. “I have to sell my family
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A SERIOUS PROPOSAL 6 Y E A R S . 7 0 C O N S U LTA N T S . $ 7. 5 M I L L I O N .
I n s i d e Dav i d Bo h a n n o n’s b i g d eve l o p m e n t p ro p o s a l
Photo by Michelle Le/The Almanac
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February 24, 2010 ■ News of local people and events in
Bringing the Menlo Gateway development project before Menlo Park officials and residents has been a major undertaking for developer David Bohannon. Key players in the proposal are, from left: land use attorney Tim Tosta, public relations specialist Patrick Corman, Mr. Bohannon, and architect Tom Gilman.
and the neighborhood on the project, and then somehow I have to get it through the public process.” According to him, the rules of that game haven’t changed. The stakes are higher with Menlo Gateway, and a lot more time and money has gone into developing the proposal and communicating it to the public. But the process has remained the same in its essentials, he said. In 2007, when Mr. Bohannon proposed the project currently under review, his company had already done a fair amount of work to design the buildings, and to provide the city with information about the revenue their operation would generate for public agencies. Urban planners and lawyers examined the site plan and analyzed the rezoning process. Architectural firms designed the hotel and office buildings, working with several consulting firms to incorporate environmentally sensitive design techniques. Transportation consultants developed plans to make
it easier for people to access the site sans car, and are still working to shave vehicle trips. Mr. Bohannon described the process as a collaborative one, with specialists in different but interrelated fields, such as transportation, architecture and greenhouse gases, working together on the design. The company also put in a tremendous amount of effort around the city’s formal review process, funding the development of environmental and fiscal impact reports by city-selected consultants. It hired its own set of consultants to shadow the city’s efforts on both reports, and to comment on the city’s results. Reaching out
The size of the project also meant that the Bohannon company would have to step up its communication work. “It was fine just to talk to the Lorelei neighborhood about the Marsh Road project, or to talk to Belle Haven” when the city was considering prohibiting office
use on Bohannon land, Mr. Bohannon said. “But with Menlo Gateway, we were really talking about something more ambitious. We needed to talk to the community at large, to help engage people.” At between 5 and 10 percent of the overall budget thus far, the communication effort is small compared to the investment required to develop the proposal. But the campaign is also the most visible aspect of the operation to local residents, and some activists say its scope is unprecedented in Menlo Park. Early on in the process, Mr. Bohannon hired Public Affairs, a public relations and communication firm helmed by Peninsula political consultant Ed McGovern, to conduct outreach. The firm helped set up meetings in Belle Haven, with Mr. Bohannon presenting his plans to several community groups. After receiving a positive reaction from those groups, the company broadened its See BOHANNON, page 22
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