Downtown Update With Mark Christ

Downtown Update With Mark Christ: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

Downtown Update With Mark Christ: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Katie:
Welcome to City of Reading podcast. I'm Katie.

And I'm Steve. In today's episode, we get some key updates on the construction progress happening downtown from Mark Christ, Associate Community Project Coordinator with the City of Redding. We also learn more about the unique architectural design of some of the California street developments. Mark fills us in on the status of the BLOCK seven project, including the California Place Apartments and the Shasta College Building. He also provides some great updates on the California Street alley, general streets and circulation projects and the upcoming pocket park. Fun fact the majority of these projects will be completed before the end of 2023. Mark also talks about why it has taken so long to fill some of the commercial spaces and why we should still have reason for optimism. Mark is the expert on all things downtown Redding redevelopment and we are excited to have him with us today.

Mark Christ:
My name is Mark Chris and I'm an associate community project coordinator for the City of Redding. I've been with the city now for about 22 years and I've been focusing on downtown for the last five years.

Steve:
Welcome back, Mark. We're excited to have you back on the podcast. You are definitely one of our more frequent guests at this point, given all the excitement that's happening downtown. So we're excited to have you back and learn a bit more about what's transpiring. I know as you walk or bike or drive past so specifically on the California street side of the downtown redevelopment, it seems like every day and week that passes, there's more and more buildings going up and finishes being put on. So we wanted to touch base with you today to talk about where we're at with things, what we're looking for timelines and what's next. So with that in mind, maybe we'll we'll start first on the California Street section specifically. I know historically that's been called block seven. The southern end of that is the California Place Apartments, those three towers on the south end there of California Street. Can you talk us through a little bit about where we are to date with with the California Place Apartments? When will those officially be done? When will folks be moving in? And what other information should the community know about?

Mark Christ:
Yeah, absolutely. So the California Place apartments are just about complete. I've been inspecting those. The residential units have been through all 78 units multiple times now, and they are 100% done and ready for occupancy. So with the final approvals from the building division and there's also a pending state elevator inspection, now, there'll still be some work going on around those buildings, some of the streets and circulation will be ongoing and some of the final landscape installations and some of the plaza work around those units will still be ongoing, but the interiors will be done and ready to lease up here and just just a week or two.

Katie:
And the city of Redding isn't actually responsible for directly deciding the tenants of those. How is the city involved in that project specifically? And then where can people find more information about that project if they're curious?

Mark Christ:
There is a temporary leasing office that is open at 1616 Market Street, and that's where the property management company is located. They have a great website, California Place APTs dot com. So it's California place apartments abbreviated dot com and there you can get the phone numbers and get some kind of preliminary application information. And best thing to do though is just walk in to the 1616 Market Street office and request an application and get that process started probably here is within just a week or two that temporary office will move into the California Place apartments building there at 1585. So that center building on California Street, and that's where the property managers will be located. So that's the best way to get in contact with property management and see if you're going to be eligible to lease those up. And it is a public private partnership. So the developers built a building and they are responsible for the property management and all of the affordable housing units that go in there and all of the compliance associated with that. So FPI property management is leasing those those units up. There's a number of different income levels based on household size and specific incomes that people get plugged into specific units that work for them and their income and the unit size, and they are overall responsible for that. The city does have project based vouchers that we allocated to the project. So the Housing Authority is reviewing all of those tenant eligibility records as those units are leased up and those tenants are identified for those project based voucher units. And then the Housing Department also has 29 home units and those are dollars that are allocated directly from HUD to the housing division through the home program. And we will verify that those units are leased up according to the rules and regulations. So it's kind of a combination of the city oversight. But overall, the downtown Redding investors is the entity that is responsible for all the affordable housing.

Steve:
Mark, remind us again how many units are there in the facility?

Mark Christ:
So there's a total of 79 units and 78 of those are in qualifying units. There's obviously one manager's unit and there's a combination of one and two bedroom units there. So there's quite a variety of unit sizes and configurations.

Steve:
In your opinion, Mark, what does having something like this in the core of downtown mean for the downtown area and really mean for the writing community as a whole? How much of a value add do you see this being for what's happening downtown?

Mark Christ:
Well, one of the goals of the downtown specific plan is to encourage these mixed use type developments in the core of downtown. The first floor most of the first floor of the California Place apartments is retail space. There's about 10,000 square feet of commercial retail. And then above that, on levels two through four are all the affordable housing units. And so to have 78 households downtown really activating the core of downtown, creating a lot of excitement and having eyes on the street and just a real public presence downtown is something that's been a goal for the core. And again, it just really brings people to shop and eat and recreate downtown. And so this is the second project in the last couple of years that we're just finishing. So we've added 78 units here at California Place and then there was 81 units over at Market Center. And so we're just really bringing a lot of people to really activate the space and give it a real good vibe with a lot of energy and a lot of things happening.

Katie:
And Mark, who's responsible for filling the retail spaces in the ground floor, who actually takes part in selecting those potential businesses and installing them in the bottom? Is that the city or is that the private developers?

Mark Christ:
That's the private developer. In this case, it is the BLOCK seven retail investors. So they own those spaces. They are the ones who are property management for those commercial spaces and they will lease those up and the city will, of course, you know, approve those tenant improvement plans and make sure that those businesses are the types of businesses that are zoned for downtown. And so we look forward to to having those in place. And I know that's it's a little slower process to get those in, but over time, as those spaces get leased up, I think we'll see a lot of new exciting businesses, combination of restaurants and stores downtown that'll I think people really be excited about.

Steve:
Well, and on that point to Mark and maybe this is a question that's really geared towards K two as they're the ones responsible for at least those spaces. But I think early on some of the issues with the delay in leasing some of those spaces was the pandemic. And then we've heard other things. It's a cascading effect where once, once one person goes in or one business goes in, it's more likely to then get additional businesses to fill those spaces. We've heard things like until there's a downtown parking plan in place, some businesses are hesitant to open new space. Again. I don't know what the answer is, but from your perspective and again, this is probably ak2 question specifically, but I'm curious from your perspective, what has taken so long? I mean, I think Market Center's going on, what, almost two years at this point. What do you attribute that towards?

Mark Christ:
Well, I think you were right. You hit on a couple of things. The pandemic certainly slowed down the economy and really, I think, gave a lot of new businesses hesitation in making a commitment like that. But what I do understand from just a recent conversations is that there's a lot of positive momentum with getting some of those commercial spaces leased up. We see a new Clairvaux winery is going to have a tasting room up and up sometime this year, it looks like. And then of course, the April Lane boutique is open and I think they're having some good success. What my understanding is now is that there's a lot of letters of interest that ownership is looking at, and they feel very confident that within the next maybe three months, they're going to be announcing a lot of new tenants who have made commitments to lease up. And they're kind of focusing on the north half of the market center building, which is the 1551 Market Street. So I think we can expect to see announcements covering about two thirds of the north half of that space with some exciting businesses coming in. And with that, hopefully the momentum will continue and we'll get the rest of market center leased up. And then with BLOCK seven finishing, the same thing will carry over to California Street. So just optimistic at this point.

Steve:
I'm always curious to the design specific to the California street properties. So the design of those buildings is obviously unique. Some folks really like the design, others maybe feel different about it, the strong opinions on both sides. But how did as part of that planning process, how did the design of those buildings with the rusted element? Was that a city decision? Was that ak2 development decision? Was it kind of a group decision? How did that come about?

Mark Christ:
You know, I think there was collaborative effort on that, but for the most part it's really up to the developer for the kind of the final architectural finishes. The conceptual plans I think were really a partnership on how those spaces are going to be divided up and what made the most sense in terms of traffic circulation for the for the location of the parking structure, the parking garage and the affordable housing project. And so, you know, the areas and the spaces and the allocation were kind of a cooperative effort that was approved by planning and reviewed by public works and a lot of input, even planning commission. But ultimately, when it comes down to architecture and architectural finishes and the look of the things, it's really kind of a developer decision where I don't think there's quite as much comment on specific designs. You know, the look of the structures, you know, you talk about the siting, the rusted metal look, it was it was kind of known in the architects did a very detailed presentation, believe it was to council. If not, it was some of the public meetings, perhaps the planning commission where they actually sat down and they they kind of talked about what their thoughts were and describe their process as they came to reading and spent a lot of time looking at the surrounding areas, the surrounding buildings, even the mountains and the types of colors downtown. And they they were trying to tie together some of the natural colors of reading and the landscape here and kind of a throwback to some of the industrial history of Redding. And that's kind of their. There are story behind the ultimate design and some of the materials they used, but the architects have some freedom. Certainly there's a lot of opinions. I just say, Well, let's kind of wait until it's all done. All the structures are built, all the landscaping is in the trees and the greening around it is in. And then we can kind of sit back and give our opinions on on how it looks.

Steve:
And Mark, with the rusted element long term, is that less maintenance required for the rusted elements versus traditional siding?

Mark Christ:
Yeah, I think it is. You know, there's zero maintenance as far as I know on the, on the corten metal sided that rusted looks. So I think there is a lot of savings there and it kind of continues to patina and age over time. And so there's that aspect to it to where I think it's a really low maintenance, permanent type of material. It's really just these last few weeks where things are really starting to take shape with the siding going on 100%, the brick going on, the storefronts going in the glass and and the storefront framing and a lot of landscaping, a lot of landscape planters and some more of those different elements that kind of tie block seven in from the siting to the look of the planters to the signage and the street poles. And there's just a lot of things that are really coming together here at the end that'll give it that final look that hopefully people will like and enjoy downtown.

Katie:
I'm going to switch gears just a little bit and pull us to that north end of the BLOCK seven project on the Shasta College Building, the Chest college tower. Great progress has been made there. Can you give us an update on where we are with that piece of it?

Mark Christ:
The north end is we refer to it as B one. Initially. It is the home of the Shasta College Community Leadership Center. They own levels two through five, and that project is very near completion. It looks like they're expecting a temporary certificate of occupancy at levels two through four by about March 13th. And then level five, which is trailing behind, should be ready by that first week in April. So at that point they'll be done and they'll be approved by the building department. And I know as early as early March, Shasta College is going to start to have the furniture and equipment delivered. So that space is wrapping up really quickly here and just going to be a spectacular building. I've had a chance to walk through there numerous times. And those those upper levels are just beautifully designed. The views to the north in particular are just going to be fantastic. It's a great design and the college is going to have a lot of really, really great programs run out of that building. So it's getting very, very close right now. This week, over the next two weeks, you'll notice out in front of it onto James Street, they have one lane closed there to allow crews to work on the exterior improvements, the new sidewalks and the curb gutter. A new bulb out intersection there on California Street to kind of accommodate some of the pedestrian flow. So and the landscaping is all going in over the next few weeks. And so that that site is really coming together looking like early April for that to be essentially done. And I don't know exactly when the college is going to move in and open it, but they are getting very, very close.

Steve:
Well, and that's such a unique design to I mean, it's neat use of space. It's a narrow footprint there on on the end of the block. Was that the plan all along to kind of nest this thin building in next to the parking structure?

Mark Christ:
Absolutely. We talked a little bit earlier about just trying to use those space down there to the maximum extent possible. So going vertical is certainly the way to go. And the core of downtown, there's really no limits on how high you can go. So going up on these five storeys and using using a very small footprint was a good design for them. And the space is really worked out well.

Katie:
And then the California street alley, what's coming there and what can people expect there? Because we we are going to see some closures and we have seen some closures along that alleyway as well. But really painting the picture is as to what the city has planned for that space or the city in partnership with K two and McConnell, what is that space going to look like when it's finished?

Mark Christ:
Well, I think it's going to look fantastic and I think people are really going to like it. And I can say that based on how the original streets and circulation that opened up with Market Center was received by the public with the type of streets design utilizing concrete pavers and the pedestrian friendly design with the raised intersections. I think it'll be received really well associated with BLOCK seven. The California alley gets rebuilt from Tehama all the way down to Yuba Street, and that is also like the rest of the work around there, getting very, very close to completion of the streets and circulation that are being put in one being Butte Street as it punches through from market over to California. And then secondly, Yuba Street. Those two will probably open first and that those openings will likely coincide with the completion of the Affordable Housing project. So again, that could be within the next two weeks or so. They're really essentially done at this point with the actual construction of those streets just kind of wrapping things up this week on the Yuba Street intersection at the alley. But those alleys, this alley is designed to be an activated alley, designed to be a pedestrian friendly alley. It's going to be extremely well lit so that it's going to be a really a main kind of pedestrian linkage from kind of north to south for downtown, utilizing the parking structure. And then, for example, heading down to the Cascade Theater will be a great route adjacent to the alley. Those businesses, those existing businesses that have been on Market Street for many, many years are going to have this brand new frontage outside, which is going to be, again, very pedestrian friendly.

Mark Christ:
It's going to have loading and unloading zones which can serve the businesses for their for their needs as well as those spaces can be occupied for parklet type uses, where those businesses would have the option to set up some outdoor space, kind of like we see from the hearth utilized market street frontage in the core of downtown. So they're going to have some options there. And I know they're all very, very excited about that. On the California Place Apartments, part of the alley in that Mid-block there's going to be some new commercial space spaces in there that will front the alley. There is a commercial plaza space about I think it's about 3500 square feet. That's just going to be this great location to have room for. It's going to be beautifully landscaped. There'll be space for outdoor seating right up adjacent to these new businesses as well as these existing locations. And so it's just really going to be a hopefully kind of a hub, just a new sort of a new sort of retail center right in the heart of downtown. So I think people will really like it. And again, the same kind of high levels of amenities that we see along Market Street, the pavers, the planters. There's the landscaping, the trees, the greening and lighting is really key. Great lighting. So there's a real sense of safety and security down there, as well as having all those new households, as we mentioned, in the core of downtown.

Steve:
So in that same California street alley adjacent to the parking garage will be a pocket park. Can you talk us through a little bit about what that will look like, what it will entail? Time frame on that maybe overall cost of the pocket park and again, what that means for the community.

Mark Christ:
The Downtown Park Plaza project, it's about a 16,000 square foot urban park and as we said, it's going to be located in what was the south parking lot right behind the downtown Shasta College campus building. There's a number of different amenities that go in there. One of the biggest things is probably this the new Shade Pavilion structure that's going to serve as kind of an event stage as well as a place for recreation. There's going to be some play equipment there. There's going to be a lot of energy conserving lighting. There's going to be drought tolerant native plants, a ton of shade trees. A really cool thing is going to be this water fountain fog feature that's designed for cooling and fun for kids and families. A lot of bike racks. I mentioned a lot of lighting. There's going to be wayfinding and then associated with that park is some anti littering programming that they'll be going into. But the park is very unique. It's not like any city park you probably might envision with lots of grass and typical playground equipment, but really a an urban park kind of designed for events with the pavilion and a stage.

Mark Christ:
So I think it's really going to be a huge benefit for those the residents downtown as well as those businesses will have have a place to go, enjoy their afternoon hours and then into the evenings, you know, a place where there can be some small events and a place for people to hang out. Overall, the project has a price tag of about four and one half million dollars. There was a grant from the state of California through the Clean California Local program that K two and the McLennan Foundation and the city were successful in. And there's some additional funding coming from the Parks and Rec to help pay for that. Right now, the final plans have been in and been reviewed the by about the middle of March. We're going to put the plans out for bidding process. We should have bids open sometime in mid-April. We'll sign contracts for the project in early May after the city Council awards. That project construction should begin by late May and construction will be done by about mid November. And overall, that project should be 100% done and usable by November of this year.

Steve:
So it sounds like really by the end of 2023, these projects that are currently happening will be close if not to fully completed.

Mark Christ:
Absolutely. That's correct. So it's been a long time. I know people are ready to have these things wrap up downtown and they kind of get back to some normal and get kind of get used to our new or and start to enjoy it and get some businesses down there. So very exciting.

Katie:
Mark, One of the things that we hear about on social media is kind of the misconception that the city, along with these private developers, has just doing this without the consent of businesses and we don't outreach to the businesses and they don't actually know what's going on. Can you tell us what kind of outreach the city does to the businesses downtown to help them understand the changes that are coming and to kind of mitigate any road closures or anything else that may impact their business?

Mark Christ:
Well, yeah, going back to the early conceptual approvals of the project, the city and our partners in the development were out in the community letting them know what was coming, letting them have some input into the designs. And so we've had great partnerships. Our development partners have been active in trying to engage the surrounding businesses and residents. We have a great partner downtown and Viva downtown. They host a lot of community events where we invite businesses and nonprofits to come and we give regular updates to these community groups, monthly updates, just to let them know what's happening. One of my jobs is to visit downtown businesses, especially those that are directly adjacent to the project. And so we'll just walk in and visit them periodically, you know, as much as as we can. We don't we don't always sit everybody regularly enough sometimes so that they all know what's going on. But we really do our best to keep them informed, give them updates on the project, keep them updated on what our tentative schedules are and when we think we're going to be impacting streets and circulation and just when we're going to be expecting to have all this work done. So we do our best to engage the people and keep them updated.

Mark Christ:
But these are long projects, these are big projects and a lot of dates get extended and we're not hitting all of our milestone dates exactly, But everything is getting done as planned. It just sometimes takes a little longer. So but we do well to try and keep everybody informed. But I realize we you know, some people are caught off guard and kind of surprised when they're impacted by the project. But between the the construction team and the development team and the city team, we're doing our best to get out there. And especially with help from the communications team, with the city to post things for us. And you guys have done a great job of trying to push that effort along because sometimes you don't realize, but there's just a real collaborative effort to keep everybody informed. That's the best we can do. And there's a lot of word of mouth down there. The construction team's been down there for so long, they've really gotten to know everybody in there. They're going to these businesses and having these conversations. And so it's been an ongoing effort and. We'll continue to do that until this is done.

Katie:
So then on that note, Mark, what's next? Once everything's done, the parks open, streets are finished, we've got pavers, we've got beautiful new buildings and sidewalks and streetlights. What's next on the horizon for the city downtown?

Mark Christ:
Well, that's a great question. At the south end of block seven between Yuba Street and Plaistow Street, there's a remaining private piece of property down there. That which was. Was a surface parking lot when BLOCK seven first got started. And it's been used as staging. But that site is going to be developed into something. I don't know what yet but it will be another big, I think mixed use project downtown. Again I don't know what it's going to be, but I think that'll be probably the last really big construction project I can envision. I know that there's a lot of effort going into across California Street to try and do something with the railroad property there. There's been a lot of negotiations, I think, with the railroad to try and maybe do some sort of a land swap that McConnell Foundation has been working on. When and if that happens, there's certainly a great opportunity to do some redevelopment in that space. But what we're seeing is we're seeing a lot of private investment all around these two big projects, the Market Center project and now block seven. We're seeing renovations on some of these older buildings, refurbishing the spaces, kind of transitioning those into some mixed use and creating more market rate housing, things like that. I can envision seeing downtown. But I think with these two kind of Keystone projects being completed, there's just a lot more private investment and renovations going on all throughout the core of downtown.

Steve:
On some of these public private partnerships. How does the upkeep of those facilities work? Obviously, those buildings have been right in the heart of downtown. In the core, they get probably more eyeballs on them by the community, by visitors than maybe some of those in more of the outlying areas. One can make the argument that it's of utmost importance that those remain looking good and aesthetically pleasing, etc.. What type of upkeep does the city require of K two in this instance? What type of upkeep as K to promise they'll deliver? I guess how does that piece of it work to ensure that they continue looking good for the foreseeable future?

Mark Christ:
Well, in terms of the affordable housing projects themselves, the Market Center and California Place Apartments, they have really excellent property management. And so in terms of the tenants and the tenants upkeep of their spaces, I think just strict property management and having a great kind of a great neighborhood feel to those spaces, they enforce the standards there. So things have been really maintained very well around those projects inside and out. And then the the city is working with the local property owners downtown to consider some sort of a, you know, an improvement district like a property based improvement district where they would be assessed a certain amount based on the square footage of their properties. And those funds would be invested into a pool of money that would be specifically used to upkeep downtown with a higher level. Since we have a higher level of amenities, there's a higher level of upkeep needed in terms of everything from landscaping to even power washing sidewalks and garbage pickup and signage and painting and those kinds of things. So that's kind of in the development now. We hope to have that potential improvement district up and running within a year, and that way it would kind of fund the maintenance of downtown at a higher level than what a typical properties might get with just sort of sort of a monthly type maintenance around it. So street sweeping and those kinds of things. So with the higher level of amenities going in, certainly a higher level of upkeep is going to be needed and is going to be required.

Katie:
Do you have any updates on the bike depot or what's going on with the bike depot? It's not a city of writing project, but do you have any updates that you could share with us there?

Mark Christ:
Yeah, I do. So the opening celebration for the the Shasta bike depot at Bell Plaza is tentatively scheduled for Friday, May 12th, and that's for the bike depot specifically associated with the bike depot on the same property, of course, is pipeline reading at Bell Plaza. And that's going to be the restaurant part of the project. They are tentatively I think they just got their tenant improvement plans approved specific for pipeline and they are shooting for kind of a soft opening in August of 23. So this summer and overall, I'm sure there'll be some sort of a big grand opening when they're both up and running. But again, Bike Depot's May 12th for them to be open and operational with the e-bikes ready to ready to rent and share and enjoy the trail system. And then the pipeline reading restaurant will open again in August of 23. So that's getting very, very close. Just driving by. I'm sure everybody's seen it. It's absolutely beautiful, really spectacular design and architectural look with all the old repurposed brick from the plaza. So it's getting very, very close. And so we're excited to see that.

Steve:
And Mark, on the topic of downtown safety, I know you mentioned with these new residential buildings going in, activating those spaces, obviously having a lot more people on the streets and in the buildings will help with public safety just by activating those spaces. I know the police department has a substation downtown and their regular patrols. What else is the city doing proactively to ensure the safety of downtown for all these new residents and visitors alike?

Mark Christ:
Well, I think you nailed it with the police having the bike patrol and the substation downtown. Certainly it's possible additional private security could be considered as part of a downtown improvement district. I don't know if that's going to be necessary or not. But what we're seeing is with all these new activated spaces and a lot more residential units downtown, a lot more people downtown, ice on the street, I think we're just seeing some of those criminal elements being pushed out of the area and just more of a kind of a downtown neighborhood feel. Also, the police and the people down there are also doing everything they can to refer anybody who needs help to some of the resources around town for housing and services and whatever they may need. So trying to make sure people are aware of services, but with all the lighting and all the all the activated spaces, again, we're just seeing more of a neighborhood feel downtown. And I think it's just generally getting safer and more well lit and more activated and just more people. And so I think that's been the goal and that's what we're starting to see.

Katie:
Great. Well, it sounds like we are very close to seeing a revitalized downtown and we have all been excited for I mean, it's already started in so many ways, but it's exciting to think that the completion here is coming soon and that we're going to start to see the finishing touches get put everywhere with the lighting and the sidewalks and the landscaping and all of that.

Steve:
Mark, is there anything else we didn't touch on today that you wanted to be sure?

Mark Christ:
We covered our appreciation for the patience of all the community members and especially those businesses around the core of downtown that have been impacted by some of the traffic and the disruption and the noise and the dirt and the dust. We appreciate all their patience and they've been great partners in this. And as we said, as construction starts to come to an end and we start to have our streets back, just a really a lot of thanks to those people. We have had to partner with us alongside all this. And we're very grateful for their support and look forward to having everything done.

Katie:
As a reminder, we are really looking for community feedback for this podcast. If you have questions, comments or suggestions for episodes, please email us at podcast at City of Redding dot org. We'd love to hear from you and incorporate those questions into future episodes.

Sonix is the world’s most advanced automated transcription, translation, and subtitling platform. Fast, accurate, and affordable.

Automatically convert your mp3 files to text (txt file), Microsoft Word (docx file), and SubRip Subtitle (srt file) in minutes.

Sonix has many features that you'd love including automated translation, transcribe multiple languages, powerful integrations and APIs, enterprise-grade admin tools, and easily transcribe your Zoom meetings. Try Sonix for free today.