Broadway Pointe is a retail core and shell project encompassing an entire city block in downtown Walnut Creek. The site was developed to house nationally recognized retail tenants, supported by a large parking garage, and to draw from the retail energy of the highly successful outdoor mall across Mt. Diablo Boulevard. 

To achieve these goals, BCV worked extensively with the Walnut Creek Planning Department, incorporating their planning guidelines and designing a location for a new city park within the block.

In order to blend in with the existing city fabric, the project was designed in a series of discrete storefronts, reminiscent of more traditional main streets found throughout the country.  As part of the development, an Il Fornaio restaurant with an open loggia, recalling the design and character of a classical Italian piazza, is sited directly on the park, which will become an integral part of Walnut Creek’s trail system.

The development of the city block now known as Plaza Escuela began with a discussion of how this key piece of real estate could integrate with the pedestrian-friendly zones to the North and the East. With the extension of an existing city street through the center of the project, and the creation of pedestrian retail storefronts along the perimeter of the site, the block became a new ‘magnet’ for pedestrian activity. Central to this magnetism was the design of a new urban crossroads at the intersection of Locust Street (the street which was extended to create the ‘Main Street’ pedestrian character of Plaza Escuela) and Olympic Blvd (which ties directly into Broadway Plaza, a large development). This intersection, anchored by a large high-end grocery store, serves as a new urban plaza for this growing portion of the downtown, incorporating amenities such as a large fountain, and plenty of outdoor seating.

The development is additionally served by two multi-level parking structures, both integrated seamlessly into the urban fabric of the block. These garage structures incorporate ground level retail, and allow for a through-flow of vehicular traffic. As part of the downtown retail overlay district, these garages add to the overall available reciprocal parking for the pedestrian environment, as provided for in the zoning guidelines of the city.