HAYWARD -- The developer of the downtown Cinema Place complex, after scaling down its plans earlier this year, has scaled them back up a little bit. In a new design report prepared for the Hayward City Council this month, developers Blake Hunt Ventures has tried to create a better "sense of destination" for its proposed 12-screen movie theater and shopping center at the corner of B Street and Foothill Boulevard.

The new plans include a second-floor open deck for outdoor dining above B Street, added retail space, rows of palm trees and decorative light fixtures.

"They have more of a character to them, more of an art deco character," Councilman Kevin Dowling said of the new designs. "I think it's moving in the right direction."

Blake Hunt Ventures, a Danville-based firm, announced in May that it would no longer be able to include a major retailer, Cost Plus World Market, at the cinema site because high construction costs forced them to scale down their plans to a single floor.

That left about 12,550 square feet of smaller commercial spaces fronting B Street, nearly 75 percent less than originally proposed. This month the developer said it would bring that up to 17,807 square feet of retail, including 5,692 square feet on a newly designed second floor at the eastern end of the project.

The changes follow reactions from City Council members and community members who wanted to see more architectural definition in the project, especially at the building's corner at B Street and Foothill Boulevard.

The cinema and retail complexes will be built on a site now occupied by a parking lot. The main cinema entrance will open up onto B Street.

An abandoned Albertson's store on the C Street side of the property will be torn down, and the city will construct a new parking garage.

The developer plans to bring final plans to the City Council in September for formal approval.