Close to 100 people wedged themselves into a small meeting room at San Jose City Hall to meet with representatives of Whole Foods Market about their long-promised and oft-delayed development at the corner of The Alameda and Stockton Avenue.

Prior to the July 31 meeting there were numerous and somewhat strident comments on neighborhood email lists about the proposed store’s long, flat wall of corrugated steel facing The Alameda shown in the drawings submitted by Field Paoli Architects of San Francisco.

It was viewed by some as the store turning its back to the community’s main thoroughfare, while others saw it as a graffiti magnet.

At the meeting the same issues were brought up but softened with expressions of gratitude to Whole Foods for coming to the neighborhood.

Concerns were allayed to some extent by Bill Brigham, architect with Field Paoli, who stressed that the design process was still in progress and once the design of the inside of the 33,000-square-foot store was finalized, they could revisit the wall.

Adam Smith, executive coordinator for design and construction for Whole Foods Northern California, concurred and said they were considering an art treatment of different colored panels for the wall or, if the interior layout permits, “an irregular path of windows of different sizes and shapes.”

The corrugated wall did not distress everyone, and some attendees said they liked it.

Smith surprised and pleased attendees with the news that the smaller, two-story, wooden structure anchoring the corner of Stockton and The Alameda will be a brew pub and restaurant. It will stay open later, after the store closes.

Smith said he hopes it will be the first brewery for the chain of more than 330 stores.

Fears about nighttime delivery and noise were allayed when Smith said deliveries will be made during store hours, and he didn’t anticipate more than two deliveries a week by trucks with 48-foot-long trailers.

Whole Foods first announced its intention to build on the site in 2005, projecting a 2007 opening.

Since then, the original design for a 44,000-square-foot structure with rooftop parking was abandoned. The site has sat vacant since existing buildings were demolished in 2007, and projected opening dates have changed each year.

Now, Smith said they are projecting an opening date of 2014 following a year-to-15-month construction period starting in early 2013.

The new design calls for an open patio between the wooden structure and the corner, with a diagonal patio between it and the larger market building.

“We’re creating places for the community to gather,” Brigham said, calling it a gateway into the store from The Alameda and the 141-space parking lot in back.

One savvy attendee asked Smith if Whole Foods will retain the Field Paoli team throughout the build out and he said they will.

Field Paoli designed the shell of the Whole Foods on Blossom Hill Road, but a different team was brought in for the interior design work.

The project is fully permitted so it’s unlikely any additional public meetings or hearings will be held.