There's an awful lot of money being spent on the San Antonio area. I just hope that predictions for population / spending and covering the costs of construction are accurate. The longer this intense, apparently unstoppable building goes on the more I hear the word: Bubble

Mountain View officially sucks. I think we should change the name to Googleville. Not like you can see the mountains anymore.

Useless City Council

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@Hate this crap
Really. I like what San Antonio is becoming personally. I grew up here (perhaps you did as well) and San Antonio used to be a flat concrete eyesore. Aside from the old "Menu Tree" I don't really miss any of it.

And I see the mountains from my back yard just fine.

@James Thurber:
Why do people keep insisting on calling for a bubble that is not coming. You do realize that the last several decades back from the birth of HP have been decades of continued massive growth, punctuated by a few brief downturns. Google, Apple, and many others are not going anywhere.

There will be lots of growth, especially in population, for the rest of our lifetimes.

All the people living where farms and sheep used to be...happy they have theirs, mad that anything changes from the changes they already enjoyed.

I welcome more entertainment, food and shopping options! I can't wait to check out this fancy theater (assuming it's not $100 to see a movie or something). This is how cities grow to accommodate more people and businesses.

We really hate what is happening to the San Antonio Shopping Center. The current layout is a maze of roads and parking lots. Sidewalks are haphazard and discontinuous. Marked crosswalks are too infrequent and dangerous and often hidden by adjacent buildings and parked cars. Why couldn't they have made a standard shopping mall with a large pedestrian-friendly car-free area?

I just wish they were building more housing, not office space. There is already a huge shortage of housing in mountain view, more office space will just increase this issue.

>There is already a huge shortage of housing in mountain view,

Shortage at a low price maybe, but not a shortage

>We really hate what is happening to the San Antonio Shopping Center. The current layout is a maze of roads and parking lots. Sidewalks are haphazard and discontinuous

It wasn't like that before? Random concrete curbs between Sears and the strip mall? Sidewalks that don't connect between Sears and the Rite Aid side?

I have to agree with "resident" that the current San Antonio "layout is a maze of roads and parking lots" and "sidewalks are haphazard and discontinuous". Looking forward to the new businesses and hoping for an integrated design that remedies these issues.

Of course there is a bubble. The way the Federal Reserve has artificially constraint interest rates has fueled a huge rise in property value and a huge rise in borrowing to support construction. That's the only reason this mess at San Antonio Center is getting built. If interest rates were at 5%, we'd see a lot less gambling on unsustainable growth.

Whether the bursting comes from rising interest rates or from the unwillingness of people to live here at the extremes of the bubble, the bubble will either deflate or burst. Here in the local area we have the added complication of the Google bubble, where that company has been able to earn more than the value it provides. This too will end at some point. Heaven help us if the ends of the various bubbles coincide.

I just hope the retail is useful. Upscale jewelry and mattresses are not very useful to me. I still miss Sears, the sports store, the shoe store.

We don't need another Stanford Shopping Center. We do need affordable shopping and restaurants for families.

Yes, exactly, the current layout is a maze and that's a sign of poor design so hopefully we won't repeat that..??

The movie theater idea seems dubious because where are these movie go-ers going to come from? The other big theaters here are all next to highways (Century 16, Mercado 20) to accommodate traffic from outside of town.

I'd like to see phase 2 succeed (or at least be better than phase 1) but it's unlikely.

Guess we forgot that going from Rite Aid to Sears you had to make a left turn around the front of Sears. Unless you wanted to drive through the wall. Then you had to make a right turn to get over to the automotive center. But be careful not to drive over that curb that went nearly all the way to Ross.

Not to mention the other auto repair that sat on it's own little island. With curbs around it.

And now you can drive behind the stores/apts from El Camino all the way to California in a straight line. As opposed to having to turn right or left, make a turn around the front of Sears, then another turn, then another turn to drive to Burger King/Party City/Rite Aid. Or go the other way and drive all the way around 24HR the turn right and go past Trader Joes then turn left to go to Rite Aid.

But I suppose the definition of maze is changing from 4 turns to 1, then yes, it is a maze now.

As far as the Web is concerned Mountain View has become the center of the universe. The growth is here to stay and say what you want, it will never subside. For the moment though I have no idea what they are going to do about the road infrastructure to handle all the traffic on San Antonio. It currently is unable to support the existing traffic, and without someday making it an expressway there will be nothing but gridlock between El Camino Real and Charleston.

The old San Antonio Center was a maze of driveways, parking lots and buildings scattered over a large area. It did have a open area but not much use expect walking and maybe sitting on a bench. Woolworths and Liberty House were not walking distance if you have bags and children.

The new shopping center is also maze but at least walking could be done, different stores with some open space and perfect if you have a dog. Very dog friendly center which scores major points with dog parents.

The movie theater caters to the adult crowd which one more upscale and less kids and not that crappy theater food. I was hoping for a Alamo Draft House but this Showplace ICON has been doing something right they are opening more.

I don't see anything wrong with mattress stores, jewelry stores, or any kind of store that has opened in San Antonio Center. It is shopping center after all and people will buy bedding, furniture, watches, rings, food, and services. The old San Antonio Center had places you buy all the above.

I'm OK with developing the area just hate to see so much high rise. Most disturbing to me is absolutely no mention of improving the infrastructure. Traffic is already terrible, yet no road improvements. I suspect it will take me 20 minutes to go from Monte Loma to the new shopping center. Adding more rats to the cage will only make bigger problems.

I wonder if people were mad when the Ortho mattress store closed at the old San Antonio. Or when it opened.

The parking lot area between the mattress store, Safeway and the pizza place, etc is a disaster.

It is not a maze in the sense that one would get lost. It is a maze where the pedestrian pathways are either hidden, in unnatural places or simply non-existent.

I do not understand how the City of Mountain View's planning department could approve this design. Even worse, nothing has been done to improve it since it was completed!

Now Merlone Grier is moving forward with the next, much larger phase of development that will draw crowds in for movies. While I'm sure MG has plenty of liability insurance to cover their butt, I worry about all the pedestrians that will inevitably be injured or killed there...

Were they made at Grodin's, Florsheim Shoes and Liberty House in which all were on the upscale side. Guess they would prefer up big box stores, baragin stores, check cashing places, fast food and empty stores

"It is not a maze in the sense that one would get lost. It is a maze where the pedestrian pathways are either hidden, in unnatural places or simply non-existent."

Like the non existent path between Ross and Sears? Or the rear entrance to only one business in the Rite Aid strip mall? Or the hidden pathway to Sears and hidden stores?

There are walkways closest to the buildings or along San Antonio Road. The parking lots is small but then I prefer parking on the Safeway then going via the elvator. Parking lots are a nightmare to begin with due to the fact so many different things going on. People backing uu or pulling in parking spaces, people on phone or texting, not paying attention ahead or behind, bikes, kids, runaway shopping carts, people running, loose dogs, slow walkers, people speeding and people not stopping at stop signs.

So anywhere you go parking lots are terrible places best thing to avoid busy places, populart places or places with just lots of cars and people.

There are many parking lots that are well designed. The ones that provide sidewalks in between rows of cars are especially nice. The MG design is particularly bad.

Sparta--nobody cares what USED to be there. The worst things built today will always have some aspect of it that is better. In this case, it is actually worse all around. It's clear that automobile addicts like sparty and Garrett have really tried to walk the premises. Their opinion is worthless.

That would have been a nice feature but this is what happenes when things are planned in a piecemeal fashion. There is reason why this was Phase 1 and Phase 2 started out diffent then what is being built. MG purchased lots after the Phase 1 plan was approved.

If I remember Plan 2 was to have 2 story retail with underground parking facing the dog park and apartment buildings. Parking lots could be built underground with more leaseable uses on ground floor or above.

I like the idea of walkways from the street into a cental entry door. But it has been built and nothing we can do now. I would prefer shops, restaurants, service and fun then big parking lots surrounded by a few stores

Where is Wally Mart going in this new upscale shopping center?

>. It's clear that automobile addicts like sparty and Garrett have really tried to walk the premises. Their opinion is worthless.

I walk it all the time. So do all the people who bring their coffee and lunches to the seating areas next to the grass. Keep trying though.

Yes i like to drive, i own a car but I do like getting out of the car and walking. I walked around the new San Antonio Center which does have flaws but every place I have been to has flaws.

Sure, every place has flaws, but only MG Phase I has flaws that will result in pedestrian deaths. Guaranteed.
Small-medium sized parking lots with entrances from major outside streets, parking garage, inside streets... Pedestrian crosswalks that are camouflaged. No useful stop sign for cars coming in from San Antonio.

The businesses in phase I are drawing traffic, but nothing like what the movie theater will draw. People late to their movie zooming through this terribly pedestrian hostile lot. What do you think will happen?

How can anyone compare this to the Sears lot??? Go ahead and hate the big open lot as a waste of space, but don't try to pass off what we have now as safer....

I agree with @Flaws that this car-centric development is just asking for pedestrian fatalities. Developers do this for the money and will probably blame the fatalities on careless drivers, but doesn't the city have any ability to review the design for obvious safety flaws?

To begin with parking lots are just a plain nightmare, with very little traffic control or enforcement. Some of the worse parking lots I have seen have Whole Foods Markets or Mom's driving car full of kids.

Yes the parking lot has flaws, these are my comments.

The street in front of Safeway looks like a plaza and I have seen shoppers treat it as such standing chatting to friends rather than just crossing to let cars pass.

The parking lot is front of Safeway is very confusing. What is a carpool? Is it for families?

Are there charging stations for the EV parking? Otherwise, why do EVs get all those spots?

Having all these markings for specialized parking right in front of various buildings, spots with time limits, or spots for leasing, or other spots make navigating looking for a spot difficult. Many vehicles head for what appears to be an empty spot only to discover it is not designated for what they need.

Egress from the non light exits have visibility problems. The plantings block the visibility of approaching traffic.

There are areas near the bottom of the Safeway ramp and nearer ECR where priority at intersections is vague. When pedestrians are put into the mix, it can be very dangerous.

There are no clear bike routes, as far as I can see. Bikes have a "free for all" mentality darting wherever they feel like. Since there are very few directional arrows for any kind of traffic, these bikes are likely to be in a very dangerous position of cars backing out, etc.

There needs to be more shade in the parking on Safeway roof.

To all those who commented on the parking/biking/pedestrian issues, you can thank the bike people and the so called expert smart growthers. The original MG plan did not contain many of the issues that have been raised. When the bike people and smart growthers got thru with their input, MG capitulated to their demands and came back with a new design. There are a lot of problems with the site but most of them were created by so called public experts.

As far as street design, most of this was dictated by the various owners of the entire area, which requires access, each owners lot.