|
|
|
Community
Renewal:
The
Rebirth of Downtown Berkeley
By
Irene Hegarty, Office of Community Relations
|
|
|
A walk through
downtown Berkeley offers an amazing tour of construction sites
and new buildings.
First there
are the public projects. At Martin Luther King Jr. and Addison
Way, the new public safety building is near completion. A block
away, city hall is being seismically retrofit, while across
the street, Berkeley High School begins its next major building
project. Around the corner, the main library is undergoing seismic
repair and expansion. On Addison, the Berkeley Repertory Theatre
is building a second stage, the cornerstone of a planned downtown
Arts District.
Commercial
projects are also in varying stages of development. At the corner
of Addison and Shattuck, the renovated Francis Shattuck Building
is almost complete, and a new French/Mediterranean bistro will
move in downstairs. At Shattuck and Center, the newly constructed
Kaplan building has emerged from its scaffolding. On Center
Street, Centro Caffe has opened, further enhancing the street's
ambience of sidewalk cafes and shops. Construction staging on
Allston Way blocks through traffic as two new projects add housing
and cultural uses to the downtown. And even more projects are
in the planning and design stages.
And to add
to the noise and confusion, EBMUD is replacing storm drains
on Oxford Street and University Avenue. With all the construction,
some ask what is going on with downtown Berkeley?
"Like the
campus, the city of Berkeley is in a period of renewal and growth
as it repairs and updates public buildings, revitalizes the
downtown business area, and develops an arts district," said
Caleb Dardick, interim director of the Downtown Berkeley Association.
Through local bond funds, Berkeley has improved and seismically
strengthened its public schools, libraries, fire stations, and
city hall. Private fund-raising campaigns are under way to complete
the Berkeley Rep expansion and furnish the main library's interior.
Other cultural
and entertainment venues are moving into the downtown. The Aurora
Theater, now housed at the City Club on Durant Avenue, will
move down the street from Berkeley Rep. Freight and Salvage
Coffee House, a long-time institution in West Berkeley, will
also move to the arts district. The Magnes Museum plans to expand
and move to Allston Way. With new restaurants and retail, and
25 movie screens, it's no wonder that the downtown is alive
with activity these days.
Success was
slow in coming, however. For many years, it seemed that as one
business opened on Shattuck Avenue, another would close. Some
buildings were boarded up for years, needing expensive seismic
repairs. Berkeley wanted to encourage new development but preserve
the historic character of the area. Limited parking was, and
is, an issue. Other communities like Emeryville and Walnut Creek
were more accommodating to growth and new development.
Eventually,
through the combined efforts of the city, private developers,
and the Downtown Berkeley Association - organized by business
owners to revitalize the commercial district - businesses began
to move back, said Dardick.
UC Berkeley
has played a part. The campus has always provided a customer
base of lunchtime shoppers and diners to downtown Berkeley.
The potential market of 30,000 nearby students, plus faculty
and staff, is a key factor in attracting business and cultural
investment to the area. Graduate student housing, built in 1995
at Shattuck and Channing, has spurred new retail, restaurants
and nighttime entertainment. A joint project between the campus
and the city improved the pedestrian connection along Center
Street between the downtown transit center and the campus.
Currently,
campus planners are studying the feasibility of moving the Berkeley
Art Museum/Pacific Film Archives, also seismically vulnerable
in their original facility, to Oxford and Center Street. City
officials have expressed enthusiastic support for this proposal,
which would be another jewel in the crown of the arts district,
bringing the university's cultural resources into the downtown.
While nearly
every city project has had some controversy - over land use,
historic preservation, density, parking, or traffic - many are
excited about what is emerging from behind the construction
fences: a revitalized and unique downtown Berkeley.
Renewing
the Foundations of Excellence home
Source:
Berkeleyan
Special Issue, Fall 2000
|
|
