Downtown Santa Cruz is transforming, and it’s doing better than most, argues Scott Newsome, a Santa Cruz city councilmember. While other coastal cities struggle with high vacancy rates and sluggish recoveries, Santa Cruz’s downtown is seeing major investment, momentum and new business activity, he writes. Newsome outlines millions in current and future projects, including housing, transit, public spaces and economic incentives, as the engine behind downtown’s resilience.
Changing Santa Cruz
Posted inPolitics & Policy
In the Public Interest: Scenes from a historic night in Santa Cruz
Inside Santa Cruz County politics & policy with Lookout correspondent Christopher Neely.
Posted inHousing & Development
Downtown Santa Cruz in transition: Locals share hopes and fears for a changing city center
Lookout interviewed local residents to get their thoughts on why they come to downtown Santa Cruz, what they think of the changes underway downtown and what would encourage them to visit the city center more often.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Santa Cruz City Council approves downtown expansion, but further limits building height to 85 feet
After nearly five years of community discussion and debate, the Santa Cruz City Council on Tuesday approved the city’s Downtown Plan Expansion, a vision that promises to reshape the built environment of a city facing the mounting pressures of growth.
Posted inHousing & Development
Warriors unveil concept drawings of new downtown Santa Cruz arena
For the first time, the Santa Cruz Warriors organization released early renderings of the long-discussed new basketball arena proposed for in the city’s south of Laurel Street neighborhood downtown.
Posted inHousing & Development
‘I’m interested in making Santa Cruz relevant again’: Mayor Fred Keeley discusses monumental downtown vote
As Santa Cruz weighs a major downtown expansion and a new housing measure, Mayor Fred Keeley faces a defining week. Years of planning come to a head as the city debates growth, change and what kind of future it wants to build.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Why Santa Cruz needs a vampire bar: Could ‘Lost Boys’ tourism be our secret weapon?
The 1987 cult classic “The Lost Boys” has developed a deep association with the city in which it was shot, Santa Cruz. As downtown struggles to build toward a new future, wouldn’t a “Lost Boys” bar or cafe be just the thing to jumpstart interest in visiting Santa Cruz again?
Posted inBusiness & Technology
Anthropologie store slated for former New Leaf space on Pacific Avenue
In a recent meeting with Downtown Association of Santa Cruz members, the business organization’s director said it was “a verified rumor” and “good news” that home decor and clothing retail chain Anthropologie will move into the spot at Pacific and Soquel avenues in downtown Santa Cruz vacated last fall by New Leaf Community Markets.
Posted inBusiness & Technology
Empty space: Why some downtown Santa Cruz storefronts stay dark for years
Despite new business openings in downtown Santa Cruz, several high-profile storefronts on Pacific Avenue — including the former homes of Palace Art and Peet’s Coffee — have sat vacant for years, raising questions about barriers to revitalization. City leaders hope a proposed “vibrancy ordinance” will push property owners to lease long-empty spaces, but high renovation costs, permitting delays and market mismatches continue to stall progress.
Posted inHousing & Development
Grocery store, parking, a pedestrian mall — questions, answers and how the soda tax figures into downtown Santa Cruz’s makeover
Nationally recognized urban designer and consultant Robert Gibbs worked closely on downtown Santa Cruz a decade ago. We asked him about some of the issues facing downtown today.