WALNUT CREEK — A Porsche dealership might sprout on the site of a popular Walnut Creek sports bar and restaurant near the East Bay city’s downtown district.
The dealership, described by a construction executive as a “prototype,” is being proposed on the site of Masses Sports Bar & Grill at the corner of North Main Street and Second Avenue, city planning documents show.
Fletcher Jones Imports, a Las Vegas-based auto dealer, owns the property through an affiliate. The affiliate bought the site for $14 million in June 2024, Contra Costa County real estate records show.
Auto dealerships have eyed the site for years. In 2023, an entity affiliated with Price Family Dealerships and Tom Price Automotive paid $12.5 million for the property, whose addresses include 2717 and 2721 North Main St. and 1510 and 1530 Second Ave.
This time around, some firm plans are starting to emerge for the site, documents show.
The project will feature a three-story Porsche dealership totaling 132,000 square feet consisting of sales and service, according to the proposal prepared by the development’s applicant, a group headed up by Stephen Scanlon, managing with Spyder Builders, a construction firm located in the San Diego County city of La Jolla.
“This building is sort of a prototype,” Scanlon told a special meeting of a Walnut Creek design review board in October. “We have integrated everything into this one building.”
This approach will avoid a sprawling footprint dominated by vehicles parked on acres of surface lots, according to Scanlon.
“We have shrunk the footprint and will provide a vertical inventory,” Scanlon said. “It’s really designed for the new sales and customer experience in the automotive world.”
Porsche and other vehicles arriving at the site will be directed to the rooftop, a basement garage, or into the auto repair shop, James Spence, an associate with architectural firm Gensler, told the design review panel.
“This is Porsche’s Gen 5 design,” Spence said.
Some who live or work near the proposed dealership raised concerns about traffic along Second Avenue, which leads into a residential area.
Jessica Clark, who lives just off Second Avenue, said she is generally in favor of the proposal but wants to be sure traffic from the dealership doesn’t spill into her area.
“This is a family-friendly residential neighborhood,” Clark said during the meeting.
Clark demanded that city officials, if they approve the project, clamp restrictions on dealership operations to ensure that test drives and post-repair trips don’t travel into her neighborhood.
“It looks beautiful,” Tami Kerr, an executive with Eco Performance Builders on Second Avenue, said of the proposed dealership. “But the concern is the traffic on such a narrow street.”
Scanlon noted that the dealership’s design will be more traffic- and neighborhood-friendly than an existing Porsche dealership that operates nearby in Walnut Creek and will relocate to the new site.
“There will be less traffic,” Scanlon said.
As for Masses Sports Bar, the restaurant and cocktail lounge posted on social media that it would be closing its doors.
“After three decades and several changes in property ownership, we have just learned that a new development is moving forward,” Melisa Barrett and Eric Paden, owners of Masses, stated in an Oct. 30 Facebook post. “Sadly, this means we will soon receive a notice to vacate our longtime home.”
The owners, who are the children of Maury Paden and Christine Paden, the original owners of Masses Sports Bar & Grill, stated that they may scout for a new Walnut Creek location.
“This is not the end,” the owners stated. “We’re working hard to find a new location right here in the community we love.”