Future of Capitola Mall discussed at meeting

The future of a Central Coast mall has been a big topic of discussion lately.

Wednesday, the owners of the Capitola Mall met with residents to hear how they’d like to see it revamped.

“We started off with a lot more foot traffic when we first went in four years ago, it has decreased,” said Elaine Kennedy with Art of Santa Cruz who has a gallery in the mall.

But the city of Capitola and Merlone Geier Partners, who bought a majority of the mall’s property in 2016, believe they can bring life back to the now quiet shopping space.

“I think it’s going to be a combination of things, there’ll be some housing there, maybe some hospitality like a hotel,” said Capitola Mayor Michael Termini, “There’s going to be places where people can come to eat, many restaurants and also destination places like maybe a multiplex cinema.”

Those are some ideas from the Mayor and city but Merlone Geier also plans to involve Capitola residents.

“That’s one of the things we’re here to see what the community likes and wants to hear,” said Stephen Logan, Merlone Geier Partners.

What much of the community seemed interested in at Wednesday night’s meeting was the idea of using the space to create more housing.

“The housing is already very difficult in Santa Cruz so we would have help with that as well as have people who are already there so they could just come downstairs and they’d be at the mall, I think that it would be really great.”

Whether it’s housing or more entertainment, Merlone Geier says they’re confident they can revitalize the property.

“We’ve been doing this for about 24 years and so we’re experienced with it,” Logan said, “It’s just a challenge of what to do with this piece of real estate today.”

Merlone Geier plans to put out a survey and come back for another meeting on what direction to take. They estimate that will happen in the summer or fall.