Western Real Estate Business

SEP 2017

Western Real Estate Business magazine covers the multifamily, retail, office, healthcare, industrial and hospitality sectors in the Western United States.

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64 • September 2017 • Western Real Estate Business www.REBusinessOnline.com IN NAPA, THERE'S A 'FIRST' TIME FOR EVERYTHING A major mixed-use project is highlighting and enhancing the charm of small-town Napa, thanks to a developer whose roots run as deep as the area's famous vines. By Nellie Day A new varietal is about to spice up Napa Valley, and it can't be contained within a bottle. This unique offering is First Street Napa, a 325,000-square-foot mixed-use devel- opment set to flood three city blocks of Downtown Napa with fun, excite- ment and, yes, food and wine, when it opens its doors in 2018. The $200 mil- lion landmark redevelopment by Za- polski Real Estate LLC will provide a modern and sophisticated destination for locals and visitors to shop, dine, relax, work and indulge along First Street, an area of the city that has been targeted for regeneration. First Street Napa will include 45 fashion and specialty retailers, in- novative restaurants and wine bars, two creative office buildings and the 183-room boutique Archer Hotel Napa. All this will be complemented by landscaping, living walls, seating areas, amenities, and locally curated art and design that pay homage to Napa's past and highlight the city's exciting future. Something Old The vision for First Street Napa ini- tially began to come to fruition in 2011 when Todd Zapolski, managing mem- ber and founder of Zapolski Real Es- tate, acquired parcels that assembled a street retail district in the city's down- town area. His goal was to bring new life to Downtown Napa, thus fueling its regeneration as a must-visit spot in Northern California wine country. "With our project, we thought it was important to create enough space to make it a true destination," Zapolski says. "So we took the old Napa Town Center — a mid-'80s small-town, downtown retail project that used to house regional department store Mc- Caulou's – added five more parcels to it and what we had was a three-block district along First Street." While the project might have kicked off in 2011, Zapolski's roots and love for the city he set out to transform were growing long before then. He was first introduced to the region in the mid-1990s when he connected with a Napa winery owner. Zapolski eventually became a partner in the lo- cal Girard Winery, and continues to hold leadership roles in many com- munity and industry organizations like the V Foundation Wine Celebra- tion. It was this passion and immer- sion in the local culture that ultimate- ly inspired Zapolski to leave his mark (an even bigger one, anyway) on the city. "Girard Winery allowed me to be really in touch with and involved with Napa," he says. "I got to understand how the city works. Being within the wine and Napa networks, it gives you a great sense of what is the heartbeat of this particular area. It provided lots of experience, and it was fun to be in a business that wasn't hard assets." When it came to Zapolski's hard as- sets, however, he realized he couldn't simply tear down Napa's past to make way for its future. Instead, he sought to incorporate what made the area great in the hopes of impacting Napa's next few chapters. This started with the preservation of a 100-year- old cork oak tree, which serves as the project's center point. "The heart of this project is the tree," Zapolski says. "It's sort of a fo- cal point. It is very important to us to keep that tree as healthy as possible. We like to think of First Street Napa as 'agrarian [agricultural] elegance,' and we're rooted, literally and figu- ratively, into what has made Napa so special." Zapolski believes there are a few ingredients to creating Napa's spe- cial sauce. The food and wine are two components, but he feels the roots go much deeper than that, and include the city's colorful trades over the years, such as fur trapping, tanning, and nut and prune growing. "This has been an area where they have been living off the land since for- ever," he explains. "That's something that is the heart and soul of what we're trying to achieve here." That starts with the use of ample outdoor space. Select guestrooms and suites at Archer Hotel Napa will feature private balconies referred to as "treehouses" due to their close proximity to the cork oak tree. Other rooms will include fireplaces with lounge seating that create a unique indoor-outdoor living space overlook- ing Downtown Napa. The five-story hotel, developed in partnership with LodgeWorks, will also offer 360-de- gree views of Napa Valley from its destination rooftop bar. Outdoor fire pits, a ledge pool, private cabanas and a wellness spa will provide additional opportunities to appreciate Napa's natural surroundings. The hotel is scheduled to open in November 2017. First Street Napa will also host an- other community pillar when John Anthony Family of Wines, a locally based wine company that operates John Anthony Vineyards, FARM Napa Valley and JaM Cellars, relo- cates its headquarters to the project's creative office space in early 2018. The business, which started as a vine- yard management company in Napa in 1997, has leased 6,000 square feet at 1300 First Street, less than 500 feet from JaM Cellars. "Napa is our family home and where I started John Anthony Family of Wines," explains John Truchard, the company's founder and CEO. "Relo- cating our offices to the First Street Napa development provides an envi- ronment that's as exciting and dynam- ic as the business we are building. The First Street Napa development shares our goals for the city to be a vibrant, desirable destination for food, wine, shopping and culture." Something New Part of developing that "culture" meant determining how First Street Napa could both blend into and stand apart from the surrounding Napa Valley. The integration of the old tree naturally preserved some of the area's history, while the Archer's rooftop bar will provide the only vista of its kind not only in Downtown Napa, but the entire Napa Valley. John Anthony Family of Wines has enjoyed a long reputation as a Napa staple, while its new creative office space will afford its employees a new destination to shop, dine, drink and possibly be inspired. This melding of the old and new is what Truchard thinks will hold the key to success for First Street Napa's 45 shops and restaurants. For exam- ple, rather than competing against surrounding vineyards and restau- rants, Truchard believes the outposts at First Street Napa can complement the area's other offerings and activi- ties. "The John Anthony Vineyards tast- ing lounge and JaM Cellars benefit from being downtown in their ability to appeal to different types of people and different wine occasions," he ex- plains. "Both locations open at 10 a.m. and go until late into the evening. People join us before their valley ex- plorations, or after lunch or to listen to live music in the evening. As more shops and businesses open, it will provide even more opportunities for people to enjoy Downtown Napa on their terms.You can experience the Napa Valley lifestyle day-to-night and weekday-to-weekend all in one place. It benefits the entire City of Napa and the valley at large." Zapolski is also working hard to ensure First Street Napa remains true to the area it serves, attracting both lo- cals and tourists alike. While every de- veloper wants to earn the business of Zapolski Real Estate is developing First Street Napa, a 325,000-square-foot mixed-use development in Downtown Napa. First Street Napa will include 45 fretailers, innovative restaurants and wine bars, two creative office buildings and the Archer Hotel Napa.

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