An ambitious plan to transform the old Dicker’s building into a four-story, mixed-use hub of affordable housing and retail spaces received an enthusiastic green light Tuesday from the Redding Planning Commission.
Daniel Knott, whose K2 Land and Investments owns the 60,000-square-foot former department store, said his firm purchased the property with the goal of serving as a catalyst for redevelopment of the downtown core.
Daniel Knott of K2 Land & Investments, right, discusses plans to replace the old Dicker’s building and reopen Market, Butte and Yuba streets. Photo by Jon Lewis.
The project heads next to the Redding City Council on March 1. At that meeting, the council will consider whether to join K2 and the Shasta Regional Transportation Planning Agency in applying for a $20 million state grant through the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities program.
If the grant is not awarded, the $40 million project will be stymied, Planning Manager Kent Manuel said. Results of the competitive grant process are scheduled to be announced in September.
As envisioned, though, Manuel said the project offers an appealing mix of qualifications by proving affordable housing with a compact, infill development; and as a key component of the Diestlehorst-to-Downtown trail project it would help reduce greenhouse gas production by promoting more pedestrian and bicycle traffic.
“I think we’ve got a really good shot at this,” Manuel said.
If the grant is awarded and the project goes forward, Knott and his team are planning on demolishing the vacant Dicker’s building and the 145-space parking garage beneath it. The parking garage would be rebuilt to support the new structure above it.
An artist rendering of the proposed downtown project.
The E-shaped building would have retail and office space on the ground floor and three floors of 1-, 2- and 3-bedroom apartments. About 70 percent of the project’s 79 units would be affordable.
Another key feature of the project is it would reopen Market, Butte and Yuba streets to vehicle traffic in the Market Street Promenade.
The redesigned 80-foot-wide streets would be showcases of contemporary urban planning with defined pedestrian corridors, shade trees, bike parking areas and room for sidewalk seating and parklets.
Courtyards and plazas inside the building are designed to tie in with the street theme to create a greater sense of community and energy, according to Sam Kingore, an architect with the Sacramento-based Mogavero Architects.
The rebuilt basement parking lot will provide 97 spaces. Another 18 spaces will be created on the ground floor with access from the alley, and more than 50 on-street spaces will be created with the widening of the three streets.
“I applaud what this developer is doing,” said Commissioner Chris Haedrich. “I’m excited to see something like this downtown. It’s just a great, great project and it works really well with the General Plan.”
Marla Shipman, who said she moved to Redding in 2001 after retiring, was the only speaker to address the commission. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she gushed in appreciation for K2’s plans. “I am thrilled and I think you’ll find many more people will be.”
She called the Dicker’s building, and the surrounding former Downtown Mall, “the biggest albatross” and drew some chuckles when she said, “I don’t know who paid who—and no offense to anybody here old or new—but I don’t know how the middle of town got so screwed up.”
Bethel Church Expansion
Water use and traffic were the two chief issues voiced Tuesday when the commission conducted a “scoping” session to identify concerns associated with Bethel Church’s plans for a massive 171,000-square-foot church complex on a 39-acre parcel just north of Highway 299 on Collyer Drive.
The concerns voiced Tuesday will be added to those mentioned Feb. 9 at a community meeting and addressed in a draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) prepared by Kimley-Horn, a consulting firm hired by the city. Bethel Church is paying for the $233,000 contract with the consultant.
The draft EIR will be published in July or August and circulated for a minimum of 45 days. Following public hearings before the Planning Commission, the EIR will come before the City Council for certification sometime near the end of the year.
An artist rendering of the Bethel Church complex.
Bethel is proposing a complex big enough to accommodate as many as 3,000 students in its Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry, according to project manager Charlie Harper. The main church assembly building, at 83,955 square feet, would seat 2,600 for church services, conferences and other events; a two-story multi-purpose building, at 87,713 square feet, would seat 1,100 and would house classrooms, assembly spaces and church offices.
The campus would be served by the Bella Vista Water District. It is located on the north side of Highway 299, directly opposite Simpson University.
Harper provided a brief history of Bethel, telling commissioners that it started in Redding in 1949 on Bechelli Lane and moved to its College View Drive location in 1992. The Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry was established in 1998 with 33 students and enrollment now numbers between 1,900 and 2,000 in classrooms on three campuses, including the Civic Auditorium. Some 50 percent of the students are international.
Russ Wenham from the Redding office of Omni-Means, an engineering and planning firm, said enrollment would be capped at 3,000 when the new complex is finished. Harper said Bethel would no longer be a tenant at the Civic Auditorium when its current lease expires in 2021, but the church would be willing to leave its nonprofit management team, Advance Redding, in place.
During the public hearing, Anita Brady asked that the EIR address the church’s water consumption in light of the delivery cutbacks the Bella Vista Water District has already imposed on its customers.
Mary Pfeiffer expressed concern about the increased traffic on Old Oregon Trail and the surrounding streets while Alice Forbes, a Posey Lane resident, said the traffic impacts “will destroy our quality of life … you will not be able to get out of our neighborhood for five or six hours” at a time on Sundays.
Ron Largent, a realtor, did not address any potential concerns and instead encouraged commissioners to support Bethel’s plans and “be a part” of the economic development momentum the church and its students generate with their housing and shopping needs.
More information, and the opportunity to comment, is available by visiting www.cityofredding.org/departments/development-services/planning
