One of Gilroy’s oldest industrial buildings will come down to
make way for downtown housing
Gilroy – One of Gilroy’s oldest buildings and an icon of the city’s industrial history will come under the wrecking ball this week, as part of a housing project expected to inject new life into the downtown.
On Thursday, nonprofit developer South County Housing will start tearing down the 200,000-square-foot shell of the former cannery, located on 12 acres at 111 Lewis St.
In addition to the cannery building, the developer expects to spend two months ripping up acres of concrete surrounding the building and razing four warehouses located on site. South Country plans to crush 25 tons of base rock for reuse in the new construction project, a $100 million mix of 210 homes and 40,000 square feet of retail and office space.
“This will be the first time in over 100 years it will be back to raw land,” said Nancy Wright, South County’s project manager. “It’s a really exciting time for Gilroy certainly, because it’s something that’s been long awaited.”
City officials have heralded the cannery as the linchpin of downtown revitalization. The project will rise in three phases over the next 18 months, with the first phase involving 39 single family homes, followed by 32 town homes. The single family units are expected to go on the market by next spring while the town homes will go on sale in fall 2007, just after work begins on the centerpiece of the project – a building with 139 condominiums and 40,000 square feet of street-level space for stores and offices. Those homes and business spaces are expected to become available by December 2009.
The construction project commences as the city pushes forward with a major facelift to the city’s historic business district along Monterey Street. In the 80 years that the cannery operated since its 1907 opening, it has served as a major source of foot-traffic for downtown merchants and restaurants. City leaders hope the new cannery project will play a similar role.
“The cannery has always been described as the pulse of downtown,” Wright said. “When it closed in 1997, there was a hole in the downtown. This project of 210 homes plus 160 employees will really create a 24-hour neighborhood.”
South County invites the public to a groundbreaking ceremony at the cannery on Thurs., Aug. 24, at 10am.
