The artist’s rendering of South County Housing’s vision for the
old, dilapidated cannery site on Lewis Street renews our faith in
the potential of downtown Gilroy.
The artist’s rendering of South County Housing’s vision for the old, dilapidated cannery site on Lewis Street renews our faith in the potential of downtown Gilroy.
Kudos to South County Housing officials for working tenaciously to shepherd the cannery project from concept to community outreach to planning commission with remarkable speed and expertise.
The attractive building pictured in the artist’s rendering, bustling with the activity of residents and downtown visitors, represents the kind of downtown Gilroy deserves, and one that we can achieve with a shared vision, equal measures of hard work and creativity, and perhaps the cannery revitalization as a catalyst.
South County Housing’s concept for the 12-acre site near Lewis and Fourth streets is for a mixed-use plan consisting of affordable and market-rate rental housing units atop street-level retail shops and business offices, as well as some for-sale townhomes and live-work units.
The mixed-use plan combined with the project’s location near the downtown transit hub mean this project follows many of the principles of “smart planning.” The cannery project is smart on multiple levels.
Removing the cannery eyesore that has plagued downtown would be cause enough to rejoice. Replacing it with a building that honors the city’s Victorian past while attracting a wide variety of residents, visitors and businesses would be a dream come true for the many Gilroyans who have worked toward and hoped for a revitalized downtown.
The cannery project is not a sure thing. There are still environmental issues to be addressed and financing questions to be answered. Planning commissioners and City Council members will have their say as well.
We urge them to share the vision and leverage this project into a catalyst for further downtown revitalization. In a few years, if we work together, downtown’s eyesore could instead be its crown jewel.
