The Hanna Ranch property south of the Vintage Oaks shopping center has been sold by Wilson Meany Sullivan LLC, a San Francisco Company, to Los Angeles-based developer Pacific Star Capital LLC, according to Greg Swedelson of Pacific Star. Mark Koenig of San Rafael's NAI BT Commercial, which represented the property, confirmed escrow had closed for the Monday, June 9, for an undisclosed amount.

The Hannah Ranch became the focus of a firestorm of complaints by local environmentalists and small business owners in Novato when it was revealed it was being considered as a potential site for a Home Depot location in Novato between 2006 and 2007. Those plans were terminated last year.

Swedelson said Pacific Star was aware of the local controversy when he met with city staff and council members over the past few months to determine the city's receptiveness towards possible uses for the land. He said his company hoped to avoid similar problems by proposing a lower-impact project.

"We don't intend on developing the site in a manner similar to what was proposed with Home Depot, which (involved) a complete flattening of the Hillside," he said "We are not intending to duplicate what Wilson Meany Sullivan previously put forth, which would have eliminated the topography of that site for a single use, Big Box (store) of that magnitude."

As for the specific use of the property, Edelson said no specific use for land had been confirmed.

"We have no firm plans at this point," he said. "It will probably be within a commercial use."

Representatives for the city of Novato said meetings with Pacific Star had raised the possibility of a variety of project types.

They were interested in knowing . what would be supported (by the city)," said Dan Keen, city manager for Novato. "We certainly heard them talk about retail, restaurants, hotels, office space . I think they're exploring what they can do with the site."

Dave Wallace, planning manager for the city of Novato, said Wallace said also among the city's considerations was the possibility new development could raise revenue in the long term.

"I would say that any kind of retail development has the potential benefit of improving the city's condition. People will always look at that when evaluating a proposal," he said. "(But) we would need to look at all possible environmental impacts . A potential big interest is that the southern property (hillside) is designated a scenic ridgeline. That's something (Pacific Star) will have go deal with."

"There will be some general plan amendments needed for many of the uses we discussed," said Keen.

Councilmember Jeanne MacLeamy, a professional architect, also commented on her conversations with Edelson.

"(I think they could) really take advantage of the specialness of that site, the range the views," she said. "They need to work with (companies) that appreciate the unique characteristics of that site. (For example) there may be retailers willing to bend their model a bit to create something very unique, that could be attractive to residents and shoppers . They may also need to do some tiered parking, particularly subterranean, so that the impact of that is minimized as much as possible.

The Advance received tips that the property was in escrow the first week of June, but was unable to confirm this or the identity of the buyer with either representatives for Wilson Meany Sullivan or NAI BT Commercial.

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