RH Halts Planned Gallery/Restaurant in Suburban SF: Report

RH (Corte Madera, Calif.) has halted work one of its large-scale retail gallery/restaurant complexes, in downtown Walnut Creek, Calif., the San Francisco Chronicle reports. While a representative of the architectural team behind the still-unbuilt project recently sent a letter to the city asking it “to cease any further activity, review, or public notification processes regarding this application,” the missive offered no explanation as to why.

Indeed, none of the parties involved with the planned complex returned the Chronicle’s requests for more information. That left Walnut Creek Mayor Kevin Wilk asking, “Is it specific to Walnut Creek? Is it the county? We’d be interested to hear more on that.”

As is typical for the brand under CEO Gary Friedman, RH’s plans for the store about 25 miles east of San Francisco were ambitious; they involved demolishing the former Neiman Marcus and Chico’s buildings in the city’s Broadway Plaza shopping center and replacing them with a four-building compound. This was to be the luxury brand’s fifth locale in the Bay area; it also has outposts in San Francisco, Palo Alto, Yountville and Corte Madera.

“These projects are subject to all kinds of external factors, such as interest rates, various risks and the company’s global policies,” Mike Nimon, the city’s Economic Development Manager told the Chronicle. “We know very little as to what may have changed (because) it’s a private deal.”

RH’s decision comes after it experienced a challenging year, which it blamed on such factors as a weak housing market and tariff-related supply disruptions, the newspaper noted. Still, the retailer appeared to be bouncing back after recently updating its financial projections, and in recent month has opened ultra-luxe stores in London, Paris and Milan, along several high-profile stores in the U.S., including in Oklahoma City, Manhasset, N.Y. (Long Island), and Birmingham, Mich. (suburban Detroit).