Developers stake out prime positions
When Al Lazzareschi and Dr. Elwood Kronick began buying property and building on it in downtown Walnut Creek in the early 1960s, the city was a small bedroom community.
A Greyhound bus station and ice cream shop sat at the northern end of Main Street, and the modest Broadway mall anchored by Lucky’s supermarket was at the other end of town, near the intersection of Main Street and Mt. Diablo Boulevard historically known as “The Corners.”
“In those days,” said Kronick, 76, who still practices medicine, “they were happy to have you build things.”
Kronick built his first office on North Main Street near the former Rinehart’s Jewelry store when Kaiser was the only hospital in town. He worked with three other obstetricians until 1990, when they moved to La Casa Via, near John Muir Medical Center.
Craig Lazzareschi, who runs the family real estate business started by his 93-year-old father, Al, agrees it was much easier to get things built quickly in the old days.
“You used to be able to go to the city and get your plans stamped that day for construction,” said Craig, 60, who grew up in Alamo and now lives in Moraga. “There was a Planning Commission, but there were very few bodies you had to go through.”
As Walnut Creek has grown, city planners and leaders have tightened the design review process, working with developers to create one of the most highly praised downtown retail districts in the Bay Area.