On May 20, just months after plans for Phase 2 of the North 40 mixed-use development were approved, Harmonie Park Development announced it had finally inked a deal to bring two upscale Food & Bev brands—Manresa Bread and Mentone—to a commercial space in the Phase 1 area called The Junction.
For James Beard Award-winning chef David Kinch, it represents somewhat of a return to Los Gatos, after he took a step back from running multiple-Michelin-star-winning Manresa in 2022—though he’s still involved with The Bywater on North Santa Cruz Avenue (and entertains many a Los Gatan at his first Mentone location in Aptos).
“The race has started,” he said in a telephone interview Friday, thinking of the hurdles ahead, like hiring an architect and acquiring permits, ahead over the next 19 or so months. “I can’t wait for it to open.”
The groundbreaking for Mentone and Manresa Bread isn’t expected until September. Their businesses will be moving into 7,170 square feet at the “Spur Building,” at the corner of Los Gatos Boulevard and Walker Street.
The Junction is a 68,000-square-foot retail and dining facility, which leasing agents Prime Commercial and The Econic Company are trying to fill with additional founding tenants.
Don Capobres, Harmonie Park Development principal, said he’s excited to officially welcome Manresa Bread and Mentone.
“I’m a big fan of the food,” he said, noting Mentone opened right at the beginning of the pandemic and still managed to thrive. “That just tells me that these people know how to run a business on top of delivering a high-end food experience.”
The Junction moniker is a reference to the critical role railroads played in the development of the municipality.
Capobres says the property owners, the Yuki family, just moved their home office into the historic building that was preserved on the North 40 land—which they famously owed for decades. The latest project has been hooking up electricity.
“Without capital partners like that, you don’t get as long of a runway as we did to overcome some serious hurdles,” Capobres said.
Kinch noted that it did feel good to finally sign the paperwork a few weeks ago.
“It was kind of the period at the end of a sentence,” he said.
Kinch and Manresa Bread head baker Avery Ruzicka, a two-time James Beard Award finalist, consulted for years on plans for the Market Hall, in the Eden Housing senior living building with 49 low-income units.
That building housed its first residents in January 2023.
Around the same time, Harmonie Park announced it would be partnering with Kinch, Ruzicka and entrepreneur Andrew Burnham (MB Partners) to bring three food establishments to The Junction.
But Kinch says the deal was never finalized.
At the time, the local economy was still recovering from the pandemic. Meanwhile urban planners around the region were scaling-back retail and commercial square-footage in design documents, with the rise of online shopping and work-from-home trends.
But now, new housing projects are being built along Los Gatos Boulevard, and Good Samaritan Hospital recently broke ground on a $1.3 billion expansion down the road.
“That’s a whole new community that we’re tapping into,” Kinch said, noting they’re hoping to open from 7am (with Manresa Bread) to around 9:30 or 10pm (with Mentone). “There’s going to be a place for all those medical workers to go.”
And now, Kinch is jetting off to Italy and France for inspiration.
