Speaking of Cultivation

There is a produce farm coming to Mission Boulevard. On May 9, the City Council voted to approve Mission Crossings, a re-imagining of the former Hayward Ford automotive dealership into a mixed-use development of 142 townhouse-style condominiums, an extended-stay hotel and retail space constructed around an urban agricultural garden.

The estimated $100 million project at Mission Boulevard and Berry Avenue is the third major development approved by the Council since early February—projects that together have the potential to transform downtown Hayward with thousands of new residents and a new critical mass of retail and entertainment activity.

The biggest of the developments is Lincoln Landing, a $250 million project approved by the Council April 25. Depending on the outcome of a lawsuit challenging the adequacy of the project’s environmental impact analysis, Lincoln Landing would deliver 476 market-rate apartments and 80,500 square feet of retail at the former Mervyn’s department stores headquarters on Foothill Boulevard at Hazel Avenue.

Maple and Main, approved by the Council on Feb. 9, is a $100 million project at the intersection of Maple and Main streets that calls for 240 apartments—192 market rate units and 48 affordable to very-low-income households—plus the rehabilitation of a 48,800-square-foot medical office building and addition of 5,500 square feet of retail space.

New investment flowing into downtown Hayward is being supported by development of a new Downtown Specific Plan, a city planning effort intended to adjust traffic patterns and introduce other design elements to make the area more pedestrian- and bike-friendly and raise its standing as a regional retail, entertainment and cultural destination. You can read more about the Downtown Specific Plan here: www.hayward-ca.gov/content/imagine-downtown.