Supervisors reject historic designation for Mid Valley Shopping Center on a split vote.

A forecast offered by a retail property expert of the Mid Valley Shopping Center in Carmel Valley on June 14 was grim. If it can't be updated and refreshed to meet the changing retail landscape, in about six years its value would drop from $9 million to approximately $4.3 million, Norman Hulberg of Valbridge Property Advisors told the Monterey County Board of Supervisors.

"There wasn't any point to look at it beyond that," Norman Hulberg said. The center would fail due to dropping vacancy rates and decreasing rents. 

"The center was already 25 years old when [Jeff] Bezos started Amazon in his garage," Hulberg said. "Times change and shopping centers, in order to maintain economic viability, have to change with the times."

Hulberg was part of a lineup of experts brought in by attorney Anthony Lombardo, who represents center owner Russ Stanley. Stanley was making a last-ditch pitch to persuade the supervisors to not designate the center as a historic resource. Residents led by the Carmel Valley Association had been fighting for the designation in recent years in an attempt to stop Stanley from making major renovations.

Stanley put it plainly to the supervisors, with a historic designation: "You are essentially putting a dagger in the heart of the shopping center. It will not survive."

Despite Hulberg's and Stanley's warnings, Mid Valley residents told supervisors they want the center to remain essentially the same. Resident Larry Bacon called it "a work of art," as well as a "landmark for Carmel Valley and well worth protecting."

Experts employed by both sides of the issue have differed on whether the architect, Olof Dahlstrand, was a "master" architect who influenced other architects, or just a good architect who borrowed from other architects like Frank Lloyd Wright and the architect behind the Del Monte Center in Monterey.

In April the Monterey County Historic Resources Board voted 6-1 to recommend a historic designation to the supervisors.

Three supervisors—Chris Lopez, Luis Alejo and John Phillips—sided with Stanley's arguments that the center is not worthy of a historic designation, which means that Stanley will not face lengthy and expensive approval processes to meet historic standards that Stanley argued would thwart most changes.

Two supervisors supported the historic designation, Wendy Root Askew and Mary Adams. (Adams represents the district where the Mid Valley shopping center is located.)

Adams delivered a scathing rebuke of Stanley, in part because of changes he began making shortly after he purchased the center in 2018. Some changes required permits he did not have. "He jumped the gun and he got caught," she said. "He didn't get off to a good start." Adams also said Stanley's vision for the center was "not in sync" with the valley's rural character nor its master plan, and she blamed vacancies on how he treated tenants.

Earlier in the meeting before Adams' remarks, Stanley blamed vacancies on Covid and the economy. He apologized for what he called mistakes on his part for not understanding how locals felt about the center and for not listening to the public more. "I sincerely apologize for that," Stanley said. He said he will withdraw an earlier design permit he received that would allow him to tear down a breezeway between the Safeway and other buildings.