Editor’s note: This report was updated Friday morning to include news of the impending sale of Stillwater Business Park.
Redding’s “new” downtown got off to a festive start Thursday as civic leaders, stakeholders, business owners and downtown advocates gathered to celebrate the demolition of the old Dicker’s department store. Heavy equipment operators with Eddie Axner Construction had already knocked a sizable chunk out of the 65,000-square-foot building and had gone home for the evening when the revelers gathered for the “Wrecking Ball Party” sponsored by Viva Downtown and the Redding Chamber of Commerce.
Shortly after Dicker’s is dusted, K2 Development Companies will begin work on a replacement four-story, mixed-use building that will feature restaurant and retail space on the ground floor and 81 residential units on the top three floors. In addition, vehicle traffic through the former Downtown Mall site will be reintroduced on Market Street (from Tehama to Yuba streets) and on Butte and Yuba streets.
Daniel Knott with K2 Development Companies talks about downtown’s future. Photos by Jon Lewis.
“We have so much to look forward to,” said Mayor Kristen Schreder, adding that Thursday’s activity represented “a transformational time for downtown Redding.”
Thursday also was a time to acknowledge a local business that served the community well back in its heyday. A native of Redding, Schreder fondly recalled shopping at Dicker’s and noted that the store was a good source for Van Eli shoes, a brand that originated in Redding. Larry Morgon, chair of the Viva Downtown board of directors, said the K2 project, with its potential to increase residency in downtown and give businesses there a much-needed spark “is exactly what we like.”
Morgon said the current revitalization effort got its start 25 years ago when Redding attorney and property owner Dugan Barr, architect James Theimer and a handful of like-minded advocates banded together and approached the city with a plan to do away with the moribund Downtown Mall and inject new life into the area.
Dicker’s Department Store is coming down.
That led to the Downtown Specific Plan in 2000 (which was just updated this year) and the removal of the Downtown Mall roof starting in 2006. The money to reintroduce vehicle traffic wasn’t available then, Morgon said, but the K2 project—and a companion $20 million grant from the state’s Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program—has made the money available now.
An artist rendering of the K2 mixed-use project.
Morgon, who worked with the Redding Planning Department as its downtown liaison, gave a shout out to the downtown merchants who have been putting up with construction of some sort for the past 15 years. “This is the big one,” he promised. “This is the game changer.”
Stillwater to be sold?
After a 30-minute closed session Tuesday, the City Council approved continued discussion with Panattoni Development Co., an international real estate developer, with the goal of fashioning a sale agreement for the long-vacant 700-acre Stillwater Business Park.
The agreement is expected to completed within 30 days and brought back to the council for a vote. Tentative terms call for Panattoni to pay the appraised value of Stillwater’s remaining 15 lots. Panattoni agrees to make a deposit bond of $500,000 and will have 36 months to secure leases from various tenants.
The city’s Stillwater team, consisting of Larry Vaupel, the city’s development services director, and Colliers International, the firm contracted to market Stillwater, has been instructed to structure the purchase agreement with Panattoni.
Dale Ball.
The city has spent approximately $40 million to develop and market Stillwater, which opened in 2010, and only one lot has been sold. The buyer, Lassen Canyon Nursery, has since put its expansion plans on hold but still owns the Stillwater parcel.
The Shasta County Grand Jury questioned Redding’s continued investment in Stillwater in a recent report titled “Stillwater Business Park: Still Spending, Still Waiting.”
At the start of Tuesday’s council meeting, during the public comment period, Dale Ball displayed a handmade sign that read “Stillwater – Sell Baby Sell” and encouraged the council “to get out of the real estate business and focus on public safety.” Ball is among dozens who have been critical of Redding’s continued involvement in Stillwater.
Based in Newport Beach, Panattoni has 24 offices in the United States, Canada and Europe and has worked with more than 2,500 clients to develop more than 302 million square feet of industrial and office space.
Diestelhorst to Downtown
In related downtown news, the Redding City Council on Tuesday voted 4-1 to close a portion of Riverside Drive to vehicle traffic to create a critical link in a planned bike and pedestrian path that will connect downtown with the Sacramento River Trail system.
Councilman Adam McElvain cast the lone dissenting vote, saying he supported increased pedestrian access to downtown, but not at the expense of motorists who will be forced off Riverside and required to use Court or North Market streets to access downtown.
Supporters, including the Redding Chamber of Commerce, the Shasta Group of the Sierra Club, Caltrans District 2 employees (whose offices are on Riverside) and Shasta Living Streets, said the closure of Riverside Drive between Court and Center streets will solidify a connection between Redding’s blossoming downtown and the city’s world-class trail system.
The $2.6 million project 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.
LGBQT support
Three speakers used their allotted three minutes each during the City Council’s public comment period to support Redding’s LGBQT community and challenge Bethel Church’s recent, and controversial, opposition to proposed state legislation intended to restrict sexual orientation change efforts or so-called conversion therapy.
City Council audience members rise in support of the LGBQT community.
Peter Young, a Shasta College psychology instructor, said the church’s opposition is based on invalid biblical teachings. His wife, Jenny Young, a marriage and family therapist associate, also voice her support for the LGBQT community. Michelle Morris, a registered nurse and nursing educator, spoke in support of AB 1779, AB 2110 and AB 2943. She told the council that conversion therapy is an “abusive, dangerous and discredited practice” that promotes a culture of shame, opens the door to bullying and has been shown to increase suicide rates.
More jobs
At its Tuesday meeting, the council approved a consent calendar agreement to waive$116,000 in development fees for CaptiveAir Systems’ expansion on the condition that the business, which already employs 130, create another 29 jobs when its new facility is completed.
Mayor Kristen Schreder honors Jon Sheldon, left, and Mike Ham, middle, as the Redding Exchange Club’s police officer and firefighter of the year. To the right is Police Chief Roger Moore and Fire Chief Gerry Gray.
CaptiveAire is a leading manufacturer of commercial kitchen ventilation systems and serves customers throughout the West Coast from its Redding facility. The job credit agreement helped Redding fend off suitors in Nevada and Oklahoma who were angling to host the CaptiveAire expansion.
