Downtown 2000, the $4 million revitalization project, will primarily affect Huntington Drive and First Ave. Huntington Drive will have more landscaping and lighting, while First Ave. will have angled parking and landscaping to be more pedestrian oriented.
Construction crews began digging up streets and sidewalks along Huntington Drive in June for the City's Downtown 2000 Renovation Project. Traffic jams, frustrated customers and declining sales have been the result.
The urban design team of Freedman, Tung, and Bottomley made its first recommendations to develop the city's Downtown Revitalization Plan. Ideas included removing parallel street parking along Huntington Drive and adding eight pedestrian crosswalks, as well as creating themes based on Santa Anita Park.
The revamped downtown debuts today with new streets, sidewalks, benches, palm trees and an all-day street fair. This marks the completion of the Downtown 2000 construction project.
Arcadia launches the new Arcadia Downtown Business Association, with plans to revitalize the downtown district. Matt McSweeney is the association's chairperson and owner of Matt Denny's Ale House Restaurant on East Huntington Drive. City officials will spend about $90,000 on a parking study and about $18,000 in redevelopment funds to get Arcadia Downtown Business Association off the ground. The revitalization plans should work nicely with the slated opening of the Gold Line station at the northwest corner of North First Avenue and East Santa Clara Street by 2014.
The first phase of the Downtown Arcadia Revitalization Study has been completed by Willdan Associates, engineers, architects and planners. A public meeting has been scheduled for Tuesday at 8:30 A.M. in the council chambers at City Hall to present to Arcadians in general and downtown merchants and property owners in particular the consultants' preliminary findings.
The $4.1 million Downtown 2000 plan will restore the area along Huntington Drive from Santa Clara to 5th Avenue, as well as on 1st Ave. The project should start in June and be completed by the fall racing season.
Arcadia Downtown Street Market now on Saturdays, 5-9 PM. It is run by Green Leaf Events on First Avenue between Santa Clara Street and Huntington Drive.
Arcadia imports Monrovia Street Fair patriotic kick-off event set for July 3. It will happen weekly on Friday nights in Arcadia's downtown area, on First Avenue between Huntington Drive and Santa Clara Street.
For the first time in its history, the Arcadia Redevelopment Agency has authorized using its power of eminent domain to acquire properties specifically for redevelopment. The agency voted to use that power to acquire a construction yard on Santa Clara Avenue known as the Bong property and other properties on the north side of Huntington Drive, between Second Avenue and the Santa Anita Wash.
Members of the Arcadia Business Association were briefed on the downtown revitalization study at the monthly dinner meeting by Al Warot, project manager for Willdan and Associates, which is conducting the study.
The Arcadia City Council plans to seek more than $1 million in damages against its original contractor for cost overruns in the City's Downtown 2000 revitalization project.