Quick Take
The Clocktower Center project in Santa Cruz is back, but as a scaled-down version. Initially planned as a 16-story high-rise, the new proposal features a more modest eight-story building with 221 units and ground-floor commercial space. Developer Workbench hopes to bypass early planning stages and move straight to a city council vote.
The Clocktower Center, a proposed 16-story high-rise behind Santa Cruz’s town clock that stirred excitement and controversy before being temporarily shelved earlier this year, has returned.
Clocktower Center 2.0 cuts a shorter, but denser, figure. Originally proposed at 16 stories and 192 feet tall with 260 units, the latest proposal from local developer Workbench envisions an eight-story, 96-foot, 221-unit structure with ground-floor commercial space and 49 vehicle parking spots, according to project documents obtained by Lookout.
Workbench submitted the proposal on Friday, but the plans have yet to be publicly released. City planner Tim Maier said he expects to review and publish the updated proposal later this week.
As part of its proposal, Workbench wants to skip the zoning administrator and planning commission stages and go straight to the city council for a vote. Tim Gordin, Workbench’s co-founder, called the request “political.”
“The key thing is that if we get approved at the planning commission, we’re going to get appealed to the city council, and appeals cost money, so let’s just cut to the chase,” Gordin told Lookout. That kind of straight-to-city-council process would be a first for Workbench in Santa Cruz, he said.
The original 16-story vision for Clocktower Center sent a shock through a city where the tallest building, the Palomar Inn, is seven stories high. Workbench’s executive team paired the splashy proposal with a message to the community: recent changes in state law allowing this kind of height meant local politics couldn’t stop it. They said the time was nigh for Santa Cruz, the most unaffordable rental market in the U.S., to grow tall.
However, the financial hurdles for that scope of project proved taller. Workbench partner Sibley Simon told Lookout over the summer that investors viewed an anomalous 16-story building in Santa Cruz as too risky and financing was unlikely.
On Monday, Gordin confirmed this, saying that the market for such a tall building is “untested and being the first one is always tough.” He said investors would find the eight-story version of the Clocktower Center more palatable. The project already has a “large amount” of the money committed, Gordin said, and Workbench would pursue the remaining financing, which he described as “a large equity check” from “national-scale investors,” after city council approval.
“We’re very confident; we’re for sure going to make this work,” Gordin said.
The 16-story vision, however, is not dead. Although the developer submitted a formal proposal at eight stories, Gordin said Workbench was “still contemplating” the original Clocktower Center plan, and if the developer could find a financing partner, would consider submitting a proposal for the taller building. For now, he said, the focus is on this most recent version.
Gordin acknowledged the controversy and excitement around the original high-rise, but said public opinion did not impact the developer’s decision to scale back the proposal.
“The major factor isn’t as much public opinion,” Gordin said. “It’s more about how do we build the most affordable housing the least risky way the fastest.”
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