The 32-year-old downtown Santa Cruz market is almost ready to move to a new “permanent,” city-owned location a block and a half away from its current digs. Its new home offers a wider vision of the market anchoring a new community center — but seems to fly in the face of one of the arguments of Measure O proponents. How will the move — and its politics — play out?
Development
Posted inUncategorized
Civic minded: Will Santa Cruz ever get the proper performing arts arena it needs and deserves?
Our housing priorities are clear. But where does a modern downtown Santa Cruz performance venue fit in? Discussions are underway about making the next home of the Warriors exactly that — which could render our old Civic Auditorium obsolete.
Posted inLatest News
In groundbreaking plan, California allows affordable housing on some commercial properties
California lawmakers struck a seemingly impossible deal to build more housing in areas traditionally zoned for big box stores and office buildings.
Posted inHousing & Development
The Six Blocks holdovers: Sherwin-Williams, More Music and SCFAA
The planned overhaul along Front Street might seem like one of the first steps toward an unrecognizable downtown Santa Cruz, but some reminders of today will remain. More Music, Sherwin-Williams Paints and the narrow building acting as home of the Santa Cruz Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous, directly adjacent to the former locations of India Joze and The 418 Project, are staying right where they are. But if these businesses do move elsewhere in the future, what does that mean for the land they currently occupy?
Posted inHousing & Development
40 years in the remaking, La Bahia names its hotel reopening date: Fall 2024
The 155-room terraced luxury hotel near the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk has been in the planning stages for some time. But at Wednesday’s groundbreaking ceremony along Beach Street, developers set an opening date for a property that has seen decades of starts and stops.
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SC Community Credit Union finds new downtown home as Cruz Hotel project faces new challenges
Following a saga of planning, moving and controversy, Santa Cruz Community Credit Union has found a new home in downtown Santa Cruz. Focused on serving underserved community members, its new River Street office — to be occupied next year — answers members’ concerns about access. At the same, the Cruz Hotel, which would be built on the parcel currently occupied by the credit union, could be challenged by upcoming Santa Cruz city ballot Measure O.
Posted inHousing & Development
Six Blocks: Downtown redo aims for 1,000s of new residents, 6 multistory buildings — and revived riverfront
You can see the big new building fast rising at Front and Laurel in downtown Santa Cruz. That’s just the first wave of massive redevelopment that will change a big swath of downtown — and heralds even more high-density development to come. Take a tour of the vision that is fast becoming reality.
Posted inLatest News
Surfing in the desert? A developer’s plan for a surf lagoon sparks outrage
A developer plans to build a large surfing pool in La Quinta. Critics argue it would require too much water as California grapples with drought.
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In the shadow of 831 Water, large mixed-use housing project shows how much change is in motion
The Argus Company, a small used-car dealership, could be seeing a grand new neighbor in the coming years, as yet another Water Street mixed-use project enters the early stages of planning. The public response to the 105-unit proposal is just beginning.
Posted inHousing & Development
Lookout Update: Santa Cruz pushes off weighty discussions on ‘corridors,’ affordable housing and rezoning
Some 387 parcels along Mission Street, Ocean Street and Soquel Avenue that are up for rezoning and new building standards have driven lots of debate. Meanwhile, a proposed assisted living facility along West Cliff Drive has drawn opposition. Decisions on both have been postponed, with hearings scheduled for October and November.
