Why is this space empty?
Peet’s on Solano still waiting on permit for patio furniture.
I stopped by Peet’s on upper Solano the other day (getting my free tea freddo!), and as I stood in front of the store I noticed a familiar yellow sign from the City of Berkeley hanging in the front window. It was the official notice of Peet’s request to be able to put out tables and chairs on the expanded sidewalk in front of the store, and it jogged my memory that I had seen this sign there before, many months before.
I asked the cheerful fellow serving the free tea freddos about this, and asked him when he thought the store might finally get approval for its little outdoor cafe request. He kind of laughed and said, oh, probably never. He told me they even have the furniture stored in a back room while they’ve been waiting for Berkeley to approve the permit they need to do this legally.
And so today I spoke with the assistant manager of the store to get the lowdown on why it’s taking so long. I was told that Peet’s originally applied for the permit about a year and a half ago, but was denied approval because their original plan utilized moveable tables and chairs, and the city was concerned about their potential for blocking access to the crosswalk there. To assuage these concerns, Peet’s revised their plan, this time specifying furniture that will be bolted to the sidewalk so it remains where it should, but they have still not received their permit.
Based on my own observations of the way people move the tables and chairs at the Peet’s on Fourth St., I think the city’s concern is reasonable. But it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure this out and come up with a suitable alternative in, say, about an hour. Folks, we’re talking about a few patio tables and chairs here, not the construction of a 25-story office building.
Peet’s originally wanted to have the permit approved by the beginning of the summer, for obvious reasons. Now, the assistant manager is cautiously optimistic the permit will be approved next month, but there are no assurances.
This isn’t the first time Peet’s has had to deal with the city and its permit process. I was told that Peet’s waited a year to get all the permits it needed to open their new store at Shattuck Ave. and Kittredge St. in the center of downtown Berkeley, and had to pay rent on the storefront during all that time.
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Yes, Berkeley can be very slow for permitting. But a word of caution about the store on Shattuck. Without being involved in the development process, it is impossible to know why permitting overlapped so long with the rent start date. It could be a combination of any of the following: signing a lease that had an immediate rent start date without construction drawings yet completed (or started!) for the buildout; design changes during CD phase; health department issues with scullery/food areas that needed revisions to drawings; additional site surveys and engineering drawings needed not identified during initial feasibility; there might be an interim review/approval by the property owner required before city can review drawings; etc etc.
I can say, having worked in retail development for a long time that cities are often be the source of permitting delays, but there are often other complicating factors as well. It may be all due to Berkeley’s building department, but then again it may not.