Gilroy
– Three months ago, says Vickie Bergstrom, you wouldn’t
recognize the new welcome center for South County Housing’s Cannery
project, then a dowdy, abandoned dress shop downtown.
Gilroy – Three months ago, says Vickie Bergstrom, you wouldn’t recognize the new welcome center for South County Housing’s Cannery project, then a dowdy, abandoned dress shop downtown.
“Pink walls, low ceilings, all these dressing rooms,” said Bergstrom, a member of the Market Share design group, gesturing around the now-airy Monterey Street office. “Now, we’re blending the old with the new.”
A broad mural of female cannery workers, posed in a black-and-white photo, greets visitors at the entrance. Floorplans and elevations of South County Housing’s new mixed-use, mixed-income development spangle the muted walls, broken by chic stainless-steel dividers. When the office opens Saturday, April 28, potential buyers will stroll in alongside a broad corrugated metal sign from the century-old cannery, now under conversion to homes and shops on Lewis Street. The sign’s weathered letters read ‘Filice and Perelli,’ the factory’s name.
“This isn’t about making a sale,” said Nancy Wright, the Cannery project manager. “When you walk in, you get the feeling that you’re seeing the future of Gilroy.”
The project has thrown open their doors to other downtown businesses, and plans to provide information on available condos, apartments and homes downtown. Merchants can advertise themselves through the office’s retail listings, and stop in for a cup of coffee and wireless Internet in the cafe-like entrance. Offices and a conference room, tucked behind the housing displays, are available to downtown merchants and community members for meetings and events.
“It’s a one-stop clearing house for people to see the opportunities there are in downtown,” said Larry Cope, director of the Gilroy Economic Development Corporation. The foot-traffic into the office will spill over to downtown businesses, he added. “They’ll see the new stuff going on downtown, the banks, the restaurants, the shops. Even if they see empty storefronts, maybe it’ll provide an opportunity for them to open up a business.”
A few blocks away, Sixth Street shop owner Dave Peoples is pleased to see the office open.
“It’ll bring significant foot traffic to the area,” said Peoples, owner of the Nimble Thimble at Garlic City Mercantile, “and they’re showcasing downtown and its amenities, not just the Cannery project.”
South County Housing spokesman Jack Foley said that’s the point: Attracting buyers who want a new way of life, not just a place to live.
“They’re not just buying a house to live in,” he said, “they’re buying into an entire community.”
A ribbon-cutting for the office will take place Monday, April 23, before the center’s grand opening the following Saturday.
