Demolition Marks Start of Main Street Promenade Project

If you hear a whole lot of crash, bang, boom on Thursday afternoon downtown, it’s just the sound of progress as the city begins the first phase of construction on its long-awaited Main Street Promenade redevelopment project.

City officials and other leaders from the region will take part in the demolition ceremony, scheduled to start at 12:30 p.m. Thursday on the 3500 block of Main Street, just north of Broadway next to the Lemon Grove Depot.

“This is a special and long-awaited opportunity to create a park in the city’s downtown core, designed to increase pedestrian activity in the city,” Mayor Mary Sessom said in a statement. “I am excited for this historic event to carry out the community’s vision for its Downtown Village.”

The first phase of the $5.1 million redevelopment project will clear the way for the linear park and transit plaza that will be the Main Street Promenade, a pedestrian center the city hopes will create a new downtown core. The city also aims to attract seasonal events such as a farmers market to the walkable space.

Design plans call for a park that brings together the city's past, present and future with sustainable features such as energy-efficient lighting, electrical generation and water conservation systems.

According to City Manager Graham Mitchell, the project will serve as a catalyst for additional privately initiated development in the downtown area.

Many of the buildings that will meet with the wrecking ball date back to the 1940s, and include the brick Tonsorial Parlor building, which was a sheriff’s substation at one time.

The redevelopment project is being funded in part with $4.5 million in grants from the state infill infrastructure program, as well as smart growth initiative funds awarded by SANDAG. The balance is coming from the city's redevelopment agency monies.

The project's second phase, which will construct the linear park and bring pedestrian-friendly changes to the intersection on Broadway at Main Street, is scheduled to begin in January.

An animated overview of the project shows several views of a modern transit center boasting open space, trees, gardens, walkways, park benches and other public amenities. The promenade project, which is the centerpiece of the city’s Downtown Village Specific Plan, is expected to be completed by the summer of 2012.