GILROY
– South County Housing wants Gilroyans’ help in designing a
downtown complex of mixed-income housing, shops and offices to
replace a decrepit former cannery on Lewis Street.
GILROY – South County Housing wants Gilroyans’ help in designing a downtown complex of mixed-income housing, shops and offices to replace a decrepit former cannery on Lewis Street.
The cannery, which specialized in tomatoes, used to employ hundreds of people downtown but has been falling apart since it closed in 1998.
Now, planners envision the site becoming a keystone of a downtown they expect to revive from its recent slump.
South County Housing, the area’s largest builder of below-market-rate housing, will hold a public meeting from 6 to 8 tonight at the Historic Strand Theatre, at 7588 Monterey St., less than a block from the 12-acre project site.
“South County Housing has found that the very best way to build a project that builds community is by building the community into it from the beginning,” said Nancy Wright, senior project manager for the non-profit company.
“One of the fundamentals of our concept is, we want to make this a neighborhood. It’s not a project; it’s a neighborhood.”
Wright especially encourages those who live or work within a few blocks of the site to attend, but she would be happy for anyone’s input on questions such as these:
• For which kind of people should this be built?
• What’s the best mix of apartments, townhouses, detached houses, live-work lofts, etc.?
• What’s the right mix of income levels? Sales vs. rentals?
• How urban should the design be? Is downtown ready for a building with more than two stories or a parking deck?
• How comfortable would tenants be with walking downtown?
• How could the complex connect with nearby streets such as Alexander and Forest?
At maximum capacity, the site could accommodate more than 200 apartments, plus shops and offices, Wright said. On the other hand, it could have more townhouses and detached houses, which would mean fewer units overall.
South County Housing has not closed its deal to buy the cannery site, but “We’re very much pushing towards buying it,” Wright said. The deal is currently is escrow. One option is for South County Housing to purchase seven acres and for nearby Rebekah Children’s Services to take the other five, according to Wright.
Some environmental cleanup will be necessary, but testing so far has revealed no “major issues,” Wright said.
The City Council approved the concept of the cannery project on July 19. Mayor Al Pinheiro recused himself from the session since his insurance company does some business with South County Housing.
After getting public input, the design process will begin. This, too, will be in public view – quite literally. According to South County Housing spokesperson Jack Foley, the organization has arranged for designers to work in the front of the Strand Theatre, visible from the street through the storefront windows and accessible to passersby.
Wright said South County Housing officials are having to force themselves to temper their excitement over the project with realism.
“We don’t think there’s been a project of this magnitude in downtown Gilroy, maybe ever,” Wright said. “On one hand, we know we have the potential to produce something that’s really wonderful for Gilroy. On the other hand, we have to manage our expectations of it, because it’s really ambitious.”
City Councilman Roland Velasco is more cautious in his expectation of the cannery project’s impact on downtown.
“I think the market will actually determine whether the downtown is successful or not,” Velasco said. “I appreciate South County, what they’re doing, but their (primary concern) is providing affordable housing.
“What I want to ensure is that there is a variety of housing types and a balance of incomes that will be purchasing the units.”
In past decades, Wright said, “People coming and going, to-ing and fro-ing from the cannery were the lifeblood of downtown, from what I understand. When the whistle blew, downtown came to life.”
Wright herself didn’t live in Gilroy then, but she estimated a third of South County Housing’s 60 employees worked in the cannery at some point or knew someone who did. The organization’s executive director, Dennis Lalor, was once a cannery employee, Wright said.
