Restoration Hardware has abruptly abandoned plans for a highly anticipated sprawling retail gallery and restaurant that would have transformed a prominent part of downtown Walnut Creek.
The Corte Madera-based luxury furniture giant had proposed demolishing the former Neiman Marcus and Chico’s buildings in the city’s Broadway Plaza shopping center and replacing them with a four-building compound. But the retailer pulled its application at the end of May, just a week before presenting to the Planning Commission and starting to pull permits, stunning city officials.
“There was a lot of enthusiasm between the city, Broadway Plaza and Restoration Hardware,” said Mayor Kevin Wilk. “For it to be pulled so quickly without any further explanation was shocking. There was a lot of buildup to it.”…