September 2008 | U.S. News & World Report
Best Healthy Places to Retire: Walnut Creek, California
Every Wednesday morning, about three dozen retirees gather at the local rose garden to weed, prune, and socialize. Pouring sweat into the soil at the nonprofit Gardens at Heather Farm gives these senior volunteers spiritual rewards, as well as tasty ones. "When you plant a fruit tree, you've got to live to see it fruit," says Jules Rosen, 87, a retired podiatrist transplanted from Brooklyn, N.Y. "Gardening is one small area where you play God. You decide what lives and what dies."
September 2008 | U.S. News & World Report
America's Best Healthy Places to Retire
Think of it as retirement reinvented. As Americans live longer and in better health, all those old retirement clichés seem evermore removed from reality. Long walks on the beach? Hitting the links? Fiddling around the house? Nope, modern retirement can be so much more than that, from triathlons to deep-sea fishing. (OK, and maybe a little golf.)
September 2008 | East Bay Business Times
Left Bank relocating to Walnut Creek [PDF]
Left Bank, an upscale regional chain of French brasseries owned by Vine Dining Enterprises Inc. of Corte Madera, will leave its Pleasant Hill location early next year for a spot in Walnut Creek’s first mixed-use luxury condominium and retail project.
July 2008 |SF Business Times
Walkable transit, shops drive top-end condo sales [PDF]
While the residential housing market has slowed to almost a complete stop, a few condominium developments in the East Bay have emerged as winners. The Mercer in Walnut Creek and Marker Square II and the Marquee Lofts, both in Oakland, are enjoying strong sales as the trend towards city living accelerates.
June 2008 |CBS5
Buying patterns change as CA housing woes
continue
With the cost of everything on the rise, Californians are starting to look for homes close to where they work, shop and eat. Simon Parez reports.
June 2008 | Contra Costa Times
Downtown Walnut Creek project draws merchants
WALNUT CREEK — The downtown's allure has enticed a French restaurant, a gourmet burger eatery and other merchants to open dining establishments and shops for a bustling residential and retail complex in the city's urban center.
June 2008 | Diablo-Magazine
Diablo-Dish
Score one for Chow. The Lafayette institution just nabbed chef Daniel Holzman, who garnered raves from the critics for his cooking at San Francisco hot spots SPQR and A16.
May 2008 | Contra Costa Times
New public art installed in downtown Walnut Creek
Artist Martin Webb's newest pieces — two 6-foot-tall cement tiles installed Friday at a California Boulevard condo building in Walnut Creek — depict life-size figures with abstract lines and figures that mimic what is going on in the bustling downtown.
November 2007 | Inside Bay Area
Buyers Snag Luxury Condos [PDF]
For $1 Million, you can buy a condominium with a view. You can live near a posh shopping mall. Upscale restaurants are around the corner. A top-notch performing arts center is across the street. BART is two or three blocks away.
October 2007 | Special to the San Francisco Chronicle
Luxury Condominiums in Walnut Creek Fill a City Block [PDF]
Occupying a city block in downtown Walnut Creek, Mercer is a mixed-use development of high-end condominiums and more than 21,000 square feet of retail space. Home buyers have already snapped up more than half of the 181 condos on the $100 million property.
September 20, 2007 | ABC News - KGO
Contra Costa Using BART to Combat Global Warming | Click here to load Video
WALNUT CREEK, Calif. Sep.20 2007 (KGO) - Living near mass transit and using it, decreases a person's carbon footprint as much as buying an expensive hybrid car. That's just one of the findings of a new national study on urban growth and global warming.
July 8, 2007 | Contra Costa Times
Upscale Urban Streetscape
WALNUT CREEK - The downtown here is being remade as a sleek urban center with the moxie to challenge some of California's most famed retail sites.
May 2007 | Urban Land Magazine
ProActive: Design. At Home . . . with Hotel Amenities [PDF]
Design elements that made their way into a select group of A-list hotels are showing up in American luxury condominium projects.
April 12, 2007 | Press Release
The Counter, Oprah's favorite, to open at Mercer in Walnut Creek [PDF]
Thursday, April 12, 2007 - The Counter, a hip build-your-own hamburger joint known for its more than 300,000 different possible combinations will soon open its doors on the ground floor of luxury condominiums Mercer in Walnut Creek.
April 9, 2007 | SF Gate
Instant Urbanism
There's a disconnect between the way that an increasing number of Bay Area suburbanites would like to live, and the buildings that we see as a result. These people crave a sense that they're part of the action and a lifestyle that is at once convenient and cosmopolitan. They want easy access to districts that offer diversity and surprise, where shops and housing and civic activities are all close by.
Jan. 2007 | CBS
Condos Hit $1 Million Mark in Walnut
(CBS 5) WALNUT CREEK Things are looking up in Walnut Creek. Old time residents aren't sure what to make of it. "It is an amazing benchmark," one longtime resident told CBS 5. That they're building a new complex downtown isn't amazing. It's the price of a condo here that is making the news. "Up to $1.3 million for the three bedroom," said John Millham of Prometheus Real Estate. The million dollar barrier for new home construction has been broken for the first time in downtown Walnut Creek.
Jan. 15, 2007 | Contra Costa Times
Walnut Creek Feels Like a Million [PDF]
When Tiffany and Co. opened in downtown Walnut Creek in 2003, the city attained star status as an up-and-coming urban community beginning to rival San Francisco with its shopping and dining choices. Now, Walnut Creek is upping the ante with luxury condominiums for people who want an urban atmosphere in a suburban area, priced as high as $1.3 million.
Winter 2006 | Walnut Creek Downtown Business Association
Mercer Commercial Leasing Heats Up [PDF]
As the Mercer takes shape, the leasing of over 23,000 square feet of all-ground floor retail space is heating up, says Ben Lazzareschi of John Cumbelich & Associates. At press time, the leasing agent was negotiating with a national resaturanteur who wants to put an American bistro concept on the Trinity and North California corner.
Sept. 2006 | Daily Pacific Builder
Walnut Creek’s $100 Million Mercer Condominium Project Reaches Half Way Point [PDF]
Doug Ross Construction has reached the half way mark in the Mercer condominium development in downtown Walnut Creek. Owner Prometheus Real Estate reported that Mercer has attained presales for one-third of the 181 condominiums under constructions toward a summer 2007 opening.
Nov. 2006 | 7x7 Magazine
Mercer opening glimpses new Walnut Creek era [PDF]
“Featuring French horn playing, Tomatino hors d’oeuvres and Centerra wines, the grand opening of Mercer on September 14 at the condominium complex’s sales offices in downtown Walnut Creek heralded a new era in city living.” Details on Mercer’s Grand Opening were featured in 7x7 Magazine’s November issue.
Oct. 13, 2006 | East Bay Business Times
Residential Development of The Year [PDF]
Finding the inspiration for a four-story mixed-use commercial and residential project in downtown Walnut Creek was no stretch of the imagination for Bay Area development firm Prometheus. Walnut Creek's thriving city center set the stage for the dynamic urban design of the 181-unit Mercer condominium complex... (download pdf for more)
Sept. 26, 2006 | GlobeStreet News
One Year Out, Condo is One-Third Sold
Prometheus Real Estate Group says Mercer, its residential-over-retail development in Walnut Creek, is one-third sold just one year from completion.
“Mercer is a classic example of location, location, location,” Prometheus’ Jon Moss says. “Downtown Walnut Creek is among those unique, highly desirable and supply-constrained locations.”
Aug. 26, 2006 | Contra Costa
Where We Live: Cities With Small-Town Hearts
At a sleek sales office for Mercer, prospective home buyers of the 181-unit condominium sipped champagne to the sound of symphony performers – exemplifying the attraction of living in Downtown Walnut Creek. Folks are moving downtown. One couple that’s lived in San Francisco and, for the past nine years, in Pleasant Hill, chose Mercer for the lifestyle: nearby street fairs, a farmers market and performances at the Regional Center for the Arts just across the street.
Sept. 7, 2006 | Contra Costa Times
Mercer Sales Office Grand Opening
The public is invited to the grand opening of the Mercer condominium sales office Sept. 14, featuring live symphony musicians and tickets give-aways to the symphony, Diablo Ballet and the Center Repertory Theater Company. Mercer’s 181 luxury condos are under construction at 1655 N. California Blvd. Details at www.mercerwalnutcreek.com.
Sun, Jan. 20, 2006 | Contra Costa Times/Contra Costa
Walnut Creek Downtown Evolves
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Walnut Creek has something for everyone -- small-town charm, high class shopping and restaurants, and an arts scene striving to rival those throughout the region. "I really think that the downtown is the heart of our community," said Mayor Kathy Hicks. "Everything kind of emanates out from that."
Jan. 19, 2006 | Contra Costa Times/Walnut Creek Journal
Downtown Designed With Pedestrians In Mind
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Viewed by many as a model for city planning, Walnut Creek has established an identity that revolves around its downtown. City leaders have kept the downtown downtown whereas other cities allowed outlying shopping centers, which killed their downtowns.
Aug. 10, 2006 | Contra Costa Times/Walnut Creek Journal
Walnut Creek Library Will Be State-Of-The-Art Building
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After many plan revisions, Walnut Creek is poised to construct a new downtown library. Like the landmark Dean Lesher Regional Center for the Arts, the planned $43.5 million, 42,000-square-foot Walnut Creek downtown library branch is expected to be a shining beacon in the city.
July 6, 2006 | Contra Costa Times/Walnut Creek Journal
Local Businesses Undergoing Change
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Changes are happening in downtown Walnut Creek: New baby store Giggle opened on North Main Street and the popular clothing store H&M set up shop in Broadway Pointe. At Olympia Place, Fleming's Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar plans to open above Cost Plus and Empire Realty will soon expand to 1251 Locust St., across from the Realtor's other Walnut Creek location on Mt. Diablo Boulevard.
