A
”
contemporary
”
three-story building with ground-floor shops and balconied
condominiums will replace two tired edifices as part of the city’s
ongoing effort to rejuvenate downtown.
Gilroy – A “contemporary” three-story building with ground-floor shops and balconied condominiums will replace two tired edifices as part of the city’s ongoing effort to rejuvenate downtown.
The current century-old buildings on Monterey Street just north of Fifth Street are two of about 30 downtown buildings not up to state earthquake standards, so their demolition will make way for a single, safer structure, according to Building Department Field Services Manager Mike Machado.
The razing will begin once the new commercial-residential project receives a building permit that city officials said will take about two months to issue after the City Council formally approves the project at its Sept. 17 meeting.
“Mayor (Al Pinheiro) and other councilmen have really promoted the downtown as a place to build,” said Jeffrey King, the chief architect on the project at 7517 and 7525 Monterey St. “I think the new building will complement what’s already there.”
King described the building as “contemporary urban” and said “it’s in the same genre as Santana Row.” The Historical Heritage Committee will meet Thursday to discuss the project’s architectural idiosyncrasies to make sure downtown Gilroy retains its classic look.
Heritage is what David Doshack sells.
The co-owner of the 15-year-old Garbo’s Antiques now rents the building at 7517 and said he’s not thrilled about the new development, but he recognized it could be good for Gilroy in the long term.
“I’m not happy because I’ll have to find a new building, but it might be better in the long run for Gilroy,” Doshack said.
On either side of Garbo’s Antiques are grimy, closed-down stores. There are two more across the street.
The planned condo-commercial project will bring new life to the area, King said, possibly in the form of a restaurant with an outdoor patio on the Gourmet Alley side of the building.
The City Council unanimously instructed community development staff Aug. 6 to bring back a resolution for the commercial and residential endeavor. Because the land is within the Downtown Historic Core, it’s hard to predict what businesses could move in to the building, but restaurants and other saunter-friendly shops top the list, King said.
“We need businesses that’ll bring everyone in,” said Todd Scheuermann, an employee at Sue’s Coffee Roasting Company on the corner of Monterey and Fifth streets. “Some people just like to walk through their town without having to go to the outlets.”
Scheuermann’s opinion conforms with the City Council’s Downtown Specific Plan that aims to make the area more cosmopolitan.
“This project is now one of several that are validating the downtown policy,” City Administrator Jay Baksa said.
Every 10 years the council makes a certain number of residential units available for development in the city, but the downtown plan is exempt because it aims to hasten the area’s redevelopment, according to City Planner Gregg Polubinsky.
“This is really quite amazing,” Polubinsky said of the planned project. “There was no activity in my first two to three years working here,” he added, referring the turn of the millennium when the City Council was just beginning to entertain downtown redevelopment.
