What’s next for Walmart site in Atascadero? New project features housing, a hotel and more
Developers are in escrow to buy the former Walmart property in Atascadero — and they have big plans to turn the now-vacant site into a resort, housing and entertainment hub.
Cal Coastal Communities is in the process of purchasing the 28-acre property near the intersection of Del Rio Road and El Camino Real.
The developer is also building Grand Oaks Paseo, a micro-home community near the Kmart shopping center.
The property near Del Rio Road and El Camino Real has remained empty for more than a decade, as the city battled with residents for years over a Walmart store planned for the site.
In 2017, the retail giant announced it would not be building an Atascadero store, citing a changing shopping environment and a shift toward online buying.
Since that time, the Del Rio area has remained economically underdeveloped, aside from a Hilton Home2 Suites hotel Madonna Enterprises built near the intersection.
But the area will likely change dramatically in coming years, if Cal Coastal Communities and other developers are successful in bringing their projects to fruition.
“We’re very happy, because that property is a prime commercial property at a prime commercial node in the city,” said Phil Dunsmore, Atascadero community development director. “There’s no reason for it to be held up and just sitting vacant and derelict and unmaintained with an abandoned house on it. It’s a big concern. It’s not attractive for this whole area.”
Atascadero Walmart site gets a revamp
The project at the Walmart site, to be called Del Rio Ranch, will feature a hotel, recreational vehicle parking, single-family homes and commercial and retail space, according to the Cal Coastal website.
The city approved a plan for the property in 2012 that included the Walmart store, high-density residential uses and commercial pads for restaurants and retail. After Walmart dropped out, the city altered the plans to allow for different uses, so the property is already primed for the incoming project.
The Atascadero Planning Commission unanimously approved the project on June 1, and the development will go before the Atascadero City Council on June 22.
Dunsmore and city planners see the project as a way to bring a “quality vision” to the Del Rio area.
“(It’s) a vision that has newer buildings and invites people in and has experiential uses,” he said. “And so we expect a lot more to be happening at this location in a much more attractive and professional way.”
Del Rio area to feature hotel, housing and retail shops
Cal Coastal’s project would bring everything from shopping and entertainment to single-family housing to the Del Rio area.
The developer envisions a wide variety of uses for the property’s 15.5-acre commercial area, including a microbrewery, restaurants, a grocery store and retail shops.
Cal Coastal also plans to build a 100-room hotel, as well as nearly 5 acres of short-stay cabins and bungalows and close to 7 acres of RV spaces. A 300-seat “natural hillside amphitheater” and conference center will provide space for events, meetings and local musical acts, Dunsmore said.
In addition to entertainment venues, retail spaces, restaurants and short-term lodging, the site will feature 80 units of single-family “affordable by design” housing that will be sold “at or below San Luis Obispo County’s affordable housing standards for moderate family income purchase price requirements,” according to Cal Coastal’s website.
A family of four in the moderate income range earns a maximum of $117,350 per year, and two-bedroom units in that price range sell for about $453,000, according to the county’s affordable housing standards.
“There is such a shortage of things to do in Atascadero,” Dunsmore said. “This adds to that inventory of things to do, places to go — an attraction. And it’s not that we’re trying to draw in a big crowd from outside. We’re trying to make Atascadero a place where people don’t have to go somewhere else to go do things. And that’s what’s missing. We don’t need to be a regional draw, but we need to be something for just our own residents.”
“And if we become a regional draw, that’s great,” Dunsmore added. “But really, what we’re after is making the city whole. And right now, we have missing pieces.”
This story was originally published June 11, 2021 at 9:00 AM.
