California Street as we’ve come to know it will hardly be recognizable in a few years. In fact, much of downtown Redding will be sporting a new look.
Gone will be the crumbling two-level parking structure on California Street and in its place, at the northern end, will be a four-story housing, retail and office project that will include nearly 4 miles of bike lanes and a half-mile of sidewalks to connect with the Sacramento River Trail.
The so-called Block 7 Net Zero Housing and Downtown Activation Project is collaboration between K2 Land and Investment, the McConnell Foundation, the city of Redding and the Community Development and Revitalization Corporation. California’s Strategic Growth Council in June announced the award of a $20 million grant for the project with the funds coming from the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities program.
This significant change to the downtown landscape will include 78 units of housing (75 percent of which will be affordable) and more than 12,000 square feet of retail space. To encourage bike use, the downtown transit center on Yuba Street will be outfitted with a sheltered waiting area, secure bike storage and bike repair kiosks. The state funding also covers a bike share program and a marketing program to promote “active” transportation.
The ambitious plan also includes widening the alley between California Street and the Market Street Promenade to allow for some retail and outdoor dining uses.
The same partners also were successful in receiving another $4 million infill grant to help fund construction of a 220-space, multi-level, mixed-use private and public parking garage between Butte and Yuba streets.
Dicker’s is done
Another big change has been apparent for a couple of months: Dicker’s department store is no more. In its place is a big hole that will eventually become a four-story, mixed-use building featuring 81 units of affordable housing. The E-shaped structure will feature retail and office space on the ground floor.
The Shasta Regional Medical Center helicopter is now visible from the Market Street Promenade. Photo by Jon Lewis.
The project, known as the Redding Downtown Loop and Affordable Housing Project, would also reopen Market, Butte and Yuba streets to vehicle traffic. The redesigned 80-foot-wide streets are intended to be showcases of contemporary urban planning with defined pedestrian corridors, shade trees, bike parking areas and room for sidewalk seating and parklets.
There’s a big hole where Dicker’s department store used to be. Photo by Jon Lewis.
That $37 million project was sparked by a separate $20 million Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities grant that was awarded late last year to K2 and the city of Redding.
Once you add in the $155 million approved for the new courthouse on Oregon Street, there will be more than $200 million of construction underway in downtown Redding.
Former police station
Even more change is coming to California Street north of the parking structure. On April 13, escrow closed on the former police station and the city handed the keys to the McConnell Foundation for $685,000.
The warehouse adjacent to the former police station. Photo courtesy RAD Studio.
The foundation has already started retrofitting the warehouse section of the property into a home for pop-up retail, bike rentals, art installations, creative play and nightlife. Redding architect Ryan Russell of RAD Studio is the lead designer for the renovation, which includes some creative uses of the alleyway that is shared with Sherven Square and the Gateway building.
A rendering by RAD Studio of what the adaption could look like.
The 72-year-old police station building itself is too far gone to be saved. It has sat vacant since 2015 when the $7.4 million Robert P. Blankenship Police Facility opened on the City Hall campus on Cypress Avenue.
Bell Rooms
Although the transaction has not been finalized, the McConnell Foundation also is well on its way to transforming the historic Bell Rooms building (at California and Shasta streets, across from the former police station) into a bike-themed café. The adjacent parcel would become a bike depot and home of a bike-share program.
The Bell Rooms, which was once home to a brothel during a bawdy stretch of California Street’s colorful history, is located on the recently funded Diestelhorst-to-Downtown bike and pedestrian trail and could serve as a welcome gateway between River Trail users and downtown homes and businesses, according to the foundation.
The $2.6 million Diestelhorst-to-Downtown bike and pedestrian trail includes off-street, shared-use paths, bike lanes and separated bikeways; an enhanced pedestrian crossing on Court Street; corridor lighting; and sidewalks. All but $100,000 of the project cost is funded by grants from the State Active Transportation Program ($2.13 million) and the State Transportation Improvement Program ($400,000). Construction is expected to begin next summer.
Busking
Not all the downtown changes are related to construction. There will be some music in the air this summer, thanks to a grant from the McConnell Foundation to Viva Downtown to support Summer Nights with Major Seventh.
Major Seventh is a popular and rockin’ combo composed of Jacob Akana, Emily Stoltz, Rob Trent and Daniel Lindberg. The band will be busking from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on Saturdays at downtown locations. Upcoming gigs include July 21 at the Brasserie (1418 Yuba), July 28 at BrewCraft Coffee (1320 Yuba) and Aug. 4 in front of the Cascade Theatre.
