Downtown 2000, the redevelopment project that has served as a lightning rod for discontent at City Hall, received an Award of Excellence this week from the California Redevelopment Association.
The City will pay $1.25 million to the Sully Miller Contracting Co. to settle a breach-of-contract lawsuit the company filed after it was fired from the Downtown 2000 project.
One year has passed since the Sully-Miller Contracting Co. filed a $2 million breach-of-contract suit against Arcadia, claiming the City illegally terminated it from the Downtown 2000 project.
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.
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.
Arcadia City Council may declare the Downtown 2000 construction project a potential health emergency in order to suspend it's contract with striking workers and hire another firm to do the work until the strike is over.
After two weeks of delays, construction work has resumed along the downtown stretch of Huntington Drive and First Ave. City officials have hired a new contractor.
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.
City officials determined that Sulley-Miller is in gross violation of the Downtown 2000 project. In a unanimous vote, city officials terminated this company as contractor for the project.
City Council approved lending the city redevelopment agency $1.2 million Tuesday to cover additional cost overruns with Downtown 2000 and other projects.
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.