PLANNING: Beltramo's plans to grow--not close

John Beltramo wants to make it clear: the 114-year-old Beltramo's Wine & Spirits store in Menlo Park is not going out of business anytime soon.

Nonetheless, he and his brother Dan, co-owners of the family store, want to add to their realm with one, and possibly two, office buildings on the block of El Camino Real between Encinal Avenue and Glenwood Avenue where the liquor store has been located since 1935.

The Beltramos presented their preliminary plans at a study session of the Menlo Park Planning Commission on Dec. 2.

"We got some mixed reaction from the group," John Beltramo said. "We very much want to construct a first-class office building with a possibility of retail on the first floor. Some planning commissioners want more retail."

The first phase includes replacing the Rayberg Lumber & Supply Company and Gregg's-Boucher's TV & Appliance site with a three-story office building. Beltramo said they have been trying to help the lumber yard find a new location.

"The lumber yard is an underdevelopment of that property. We need to find a better and higher use for it," Beltramo said. "The office market is quite strong."

Phase two--which is "really down the road, 15 or 20 years or maybe never," Beltramo said--involves tearing down the liquor store, possibly relocating it to the phase one building, and putting up a new building.

The family already owns the office building on the corner of El Camino and Encinal Avenue, and owns all the land they are proposing to build on.

The Beltramos' grandfather started the business in 1882 in Los Gatos. It moved to Glenwood Avenue in 1906.

The development requires a zone change from commercial to planned development to allow buildings of three stories and a smaller parking requirement: from six parking spaces per 1,000 square-feet of building to four spaces.

Beltramo said they would probably file an application with the city in early 1997 and aim to begin construction a year later. "We have a lot of work to do on the design of the building."

In the planned development zone, only 40 percent of the lot can be office space. Up to 55 percent of the lot can be built on if the 15 percent difference is used for retail or housing, said Curtis Banks, associate planner for Menlo Park.

The new zone would also require the Beltramos to provide a public benefit, like the public plaza in front of the similarly rezoned Menlo Center (with Kepler's), said Mary Jo Borak, chair of the Planning Commission.

"Office space is really desirable right now because there's such a shortage in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties," Borak said.1 n