Salinas City Council approves three-year extension for mixed-use development.

The Salinas City Council voted 6-0 on Tuesday, June 30 to approve a 36-month time extension for a mixed-use development project at the southeast corner of John Street and Abbott Street. The extension moves the project deadline from June 11, 2026 to June 11, 2029.

Councilmember José Luis Barajas returned to the dais after almost two months on leave. Meanwhile Councilmember Margaret D'Arrigo recused herself, stating, “I’m a shareholder at D'Arrigo Brothers company who is a large-percentage owner of the Uni-Kool partnership and that is tied to this project, so I'm going to recuse myself for the vote.”

The Planning Commission recommended granting the extension on June 3, as requested by the property owner, Uni-Kool Partners. Automatic short-term extra time was granted due to the extension request on May 8.

Originally approved by the city council in 2024, the project includes a seven-phase development featuring a 70,000-square-foot hotel with 111 guest rooms, nearly 200 residential units and a retail and office space totaling more than 440,000 square feet. The extension accommodates the additional time needed to process civil plans for infrastructure improvements, coordinate off-site enhancements affecting city rights-of-way, and complete required environmental testing as mandated by the city’s initial study mitigated negative declaration.

“We have been working diligently with the developer. In addition to undertaking site study for remediation and to be in compliance with the mitigation measures, we have also been in multiple conversations regarding potential changes to the phasing of the project,” said Lisa Brinton, community developer director for Salinas. “There are a lot of moving parts at this point, and the subdivision map app does allow for a total of five years. So an extension is not unusual, because there can always be unforeseen constraints that delay the development from getting the final map.”