What's next for Don Peebles, whose plan to turn Pacifica's long-abandoned quarry into a town center lost by fewer than 500 votes in the November election?

The Miami developer did not seem too dismayed about losing the chance to build 350 homes, along with a 350-room hotel plus several civic projects, on the oceanfront property. As he noted, the market has changed since he first proposed the project in the spring.

``When we started on the mixed-use concept, the housing market was at a different point in time. It was a euphoric market with quarter after quarter of record appreciation and sales volume,'' he said. ``Now, we've had quarter after quarter of decline.''

Peebles bought the 88-acre site in 2005 for $7.5 million -- a price that allowed him to offer Pacificans several plums if the city allowed him to build housing. He said a buyer offered him $85 million for the property before the election.

The way Peebles sees it, the naysayers who feared the traffic generated by the project would be more than the town could handle may have done him a favor by defeating Pacifica's Measure L, 7,229 to 6,799. Now all the carrots he was offering the community -- 45 percent of the land set aside as open space; a site for a new city hall and a public library; an aquatic center, plus two athletic fields for soccer and baseball -- are off the table.

``That's a significant cost -- well over $10 million,'' he said. ``Plus I was agreeing to give money to pre-existing traffic conditions.''

While Pacifica, one of San Mateo County's poorer cities in terms of a tax base, welcomed such civic projects, none of the ``gifts'' were part of the ballot measure. In other words, Paul Jones, a longtime Pacifica resident, said the town could not force the developer to deliver on his word.

``We wanted promises that were legally enforceable,'' he said, and within state and federal environmental regulations.

But few were cheering after the measure's defeat, Jones said.

``There is some satisfaction from stopping somebody from abusing the process. But at the same time, it's bittersweet. There is no dancing in the street,'' he said. ``We haven't resolved the matter of what we're going to do in the quarry. It's still looming before us,'' he said.

``Now what? More divisiveness?''

Jones said that as far as he knows, those opposed to the project have not reached out to Peebles, but as an interested resident, he would like to sit down with the developer to revisit his proposal.

Peebles isn't the first developer to be defeated by opponents to quarry development in the windswept town perched at the edge of the Pacific Ocean; he's the third. But he is quick to point out that he needs only the approval of Pacificans if he builds housing. The site already has the approvals necessary to build 2.1 million square feet of retail.

``I gave them a very special project that was looking to help redefine that community and set it on firm financial footing for years to come,'' he said.

``On the flip side, the economics may be better to do an all-commercial project. There's no open space requirement,'' he said. ``No requirement for city hall, no requirement for a library, no requirement for an aquatic center.

``My costs are going to go down significantly.''

THE LURE OF RETAIL: Retail remains a hot sector in the commercial real estate market. Dan Wald, a broker with NAI BT Commercial, said when he asked the investment community if they were interested in investing in the On Broadway Retail Center in Redwood City, more than a dozen said yes.

RREEF paid an undisclosed amount to become a long-term investor in the block-long development that is anchored by a 20-screen Century Theatres and includes Cost Plus World Markets, Shoe Pavilion and the San Mateo Credit Union.

Developed by Blake Hunt Ventures of Danville and the Innisfree Companies of Sausalito, the project marks a turn for Redwood City's quest to build a downtown destination.

``San Mateo, Burlingame and Palo Alto all have main streets that attract retailers and create a street shopping experience that is very much in favor again,'' he said. ``In between all of that is Redwood City. It has fantastic demographics, but its downtown has trailed. Now there's a reason for people to come down from the hills and enjoy their downtown.''