"There is so much demand for tenant space at Broadway Plaza. We just don't have the space."
Macerich CEO Jackson Hsieh said that on an August 4 call with Wall Street analysts, as reported by the Mercury News. Macerich owns Broadway Plaza. It also owns the three-level, 85,900-square-foot former Neiman Marcus building at Mt. Diablo Boulevard and South Main Street, which has been empty since the store closed in 2021.
Both of those things are true, and they don't conflict. The corner is dark because Broadway Plaza is full. Stores are trading the mid-size spaces among themselves, and the owner has said the old department store may be worth more broken into those same smaller units than leased to one big tenant. That decision explains the empty building and suggests what will eventually fill it.
What RH planned for the corner
Earlier in 2026, Restoration Hardware, now called RH, brought a proposal to Walnut Creek's Design Review Commission. The plan was to tear down the Neiman Marcus and Chico's buildings and put up four connected commercial buildings on a combined 1.14-acre site. The February version, according to Patch, called for nearly 30,000 square feet of new construction. It included retail galleries, an outdoor wine area, fountains, fireplaces, landscaped courtyards and a glass conservatory restaurant. Construction was expected to start in mid-2026, with an opening projected for early 2028.
City planning staff had one main design question. The buildings would be single-story, on an intersection where neighbors like Pottery Barn, Tiffany & Co. and the Rooftop restaurant stand several stories tall.
RH withdrew its application in June. Neither the company nor the city has said why. Elizabeth Sheets Orcutt, the city's Community Relations Manager, said Walnut Creek "remains committed to supporting Restoration Hardware and exploring opportunities with future tenants for this important location."
In his August remarks, Hsieh described a new direction. He said the building could be converted into "more inline opportunities," meaning smaller shops under one roof. He also said that approach would "actually end up being more accretive," in other words more profitable, than the RH deal would have been. John Cumbelich, who runs a Walnut Creek retail brokerage, told the Mercury News that Macerich would pitch the vacancy at an upcoming shopping center trade conference in San Diego. No tenant, lease or demolition plan has been announced since then.
Inside the plaza, every vacancy is a move
The plaza's own storefronts back up what Hsieh said. When a space opens up, someone moves in, often a store that already has a location in the center.
- 78 Broadway Lane. White House Black Market closed its longtime boutique here in May. The North Face is moving into the space from its current store near Nordstrom. Signs at the storefront say Fall 2026, and no opening day has been posted.
- 1205 Broadway Plaza. Sur La Table is coming back to Broadway Plaza, but in a different spot from its old store, which was expected to close in March 2022. The new store takes the 6,000-plus-square-foot former P.F. Chang's space overlooking Mt. Diablo Boulevard. Its store page says "Opening Late Fall," and as of September 29 it still showed the store closed every day. Earlier reports said the store would host cooking classes, but the page now says this location won't offer them.
- 146 Broadway Lane. The former Aveda space is planned for Rowan, an ear-piercing studio where nurses do the piercing. No opening date has been announced.
- Listed as coming soon. The plaza's directory also lists SKIMS and American Eagle Outfitters as coming soon.
Recent arrivals add to the list: Vuori, Mango and New Balance, as reported by Bay Area Telegraph. Läderach Chocolatier opened with a ribbon cutting on August 14, near the food court by Macy's. By August 20, the modular furniture store 7th Avenue had opened too.
Most of these are store-sized spaces, not anchor-sized. That's the kind of demand Hsieh described, and it explains his interest in cutting up the Neiman building.
Why big spaces take longer to fill
The Sur La Table space is a useful yardstick. P.F. Chang's left when its lease ended on June 23, 2023, according to the Walnut Creek Record. A late-fall 2026 opening would mean that 6,000-square-foot space sat empty for more than three years, even in a center its owner calls short on room.
The Neiman Marcus building is roughly fourteen times bigger, spread over three floors. The store opened in March 2012 and had closed by January 2021. As of this month, the building has been empty for about five years and eight months, longer than Neiman Marcus spent there in its first five years.
Splitting it into shops would mean finding several tenants at once, redesigning the inside and getting city review. The RH plan alone had a timeline running to early 2028. Any new plan for the corner starts from scratch, and nothing has been filed publicly. For people downtown, the corner will most likely stay as it is through this holiday season. When it does change, it should look much like the rest of the plaza's recent arrivals.
What's new on the streets around the plaza
The same smaller-format turnover has reached the streets around Broadway Plaza.
On Locust Street, Taqueria Extra & Cantina reopened at 1359 Locust St. after relocating, Beyond the Creek reported in July. MIXT was set to open July 14 in the former Genova Deli space at 1105 S. California Blvd. The BOBA Lounge has opened at Broadway Pointe, 1245 N. Broadway.
Two more were announced over the summer. Beyond the Creek reported on September 25 that Salt & Lime is coming to 1521 N. Main St., the former Oyama Sushi space. The gelato shop Bacio di Latte was expected to open in September at 1500 Mt. Diablo Blvd., the former Vineyard Vines space, Beyond the Creek reported in June.
A few spots have closed. Yardbird, a furniture store at 1406 N. Broadway, had closed by late August. The Starbucks at 1663 N. California Blvd. closed after Saturday, September 26, after more than 12 years on the ground floor of the Mercer. It's the second downtown Starbucks to close in about a year, both during a company-wide round of closures. The location at 1340 N. Main St. is still open.
The holiday calendar until the corner changes
The empty corner won't affect the season's usual events. Here are the dates already set:
- October 11. HEAD WEST Marketplace comes to North Main Street with local makers, artisans and small businesses. It returns December 13.
- November 20. Walnut Creek on Ice opens at Civic Park, 1365 Civic Drive, and runs through January 18, 2027. That evening, the free Holiday Tree Lighting runs from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at Civic Park.
- December 3. Broadway Plaza holds its Holiday Parade of Lights and Tree Lighting from 6 to 8:30 p.m. throughout the center.
By the December 3 parade, The North Face and Sur La Table may be open in their new spaces, since both have said fall. Neither has announced a date, and the Neiman Marcus corner will still be waiting on Macerich's next move.
If you're thinking about how changes like these affect a home near downtown, or what the Neiman Marcus site might mean for your block in a few years, May Taliaferro Bell is glad to walk through it with you. Schedule a free consultation, and we'll go over what's been filed, what's only been announced and how to keep track as plans firm up.
