Saturday, December 23, 2023

Santa Cruz Changes 78 - 2024: It's gonna be wild!

 As noted in the last post, multiple downtown-area projects area will be completed in 2024. At least one other major project previously noted here - known as Pacific Station North - is scheduled to begin construction next year. Because part of that project is a rebuild of the Metro Center, Metro bus loading/unloading will be moved to a temporary on-street site for the 2 years until the new facility is ready. 

Thanks to Lookout Santa Cruz for publishing the map below, showing how that will work. The 3 bus stops A, B, and C surround the CVS drugstore south parking lot on River Street, Soquel Avenue, and Front Street. Those are very busy streets, so we could be in for 2 (more) years of very slow downtown traffic. I plan to avoid driving in that area as much as possible.



Saturday, December 16, 2023

Santa Cruz Changes 77: End of 2023 Development Updates


Only one of the development projects previously reported in this blog was completed in 2023, but a number of them are under construction and scheduled for completion in 2024. 

Those include:

Construction may begin in 2024 on:

  • Cruz Hotel. The project had a Dec. 21 City Council hearing to approve its demolition permit, but that approval has been postponed until at least February because of amendments to the project that need approval from the Coastal Commission. 
A previously planned project was canceled in 2023: