Olympia Place Awarded “Retail Project of the Year” by the San Francisco Business Journal.

Developers Blake Hunt Ventures and Pan Pacific Retail Properties are well on the way to completing a new movie-retail-restaurant complex in downtown Walnut Creek.

Olympia Place represents a big improvement to what was a relatively under-utilized parcel of land bounded by Locust Street, Mt. Diablo, California and Olympic Boulevards. Two gas stations, a motel and an empty lot are now gone, making way for a 147,000 square foot retail center slated for completion in the first quarter of next year. Total project cost: $42.5 million.

A 14-screen Century Theatres movie complex serves as Olympia Place's anchor. Retailer Cost Plus has also committed to building a 24,000 square foot store. And a mix of smaller retail shops and restaurants will eventually occupy the remaining 60,000 square feet of space, according to Jim Wright, Vice President of Development at Blake Hunt Ventures.

It shouldn't be a hard sell, with Walnut Creek's high average annual income of $83,700 and a local population of nearly 200,000 potential shoppers.

Blake Hunt is very familiar with the territory. The real estate development and investment company is headquartered in Walnut Creek. Another of its retail projects, Plaza Escuela, anchored by an Andronico's grocery store, is located across the street from Olympia Place.