Responding to a plea from the developer that they couldn’t effectively sell the spaces in this economic environment (prior to completion of construction - in other words, before they tried), the City agreed to amend the existing zoning ordinance to allow approximately half of the 1st floor commercial spaces to be developed into office space (which ironically would be exactly the opposite of why Prospect Village was brought into existence in the first place).

That is unfortunate as (my opinion) transforming Old Town into what it could and should be, requires a firm hand to shape the activity that is allowed to blossom there.

While sticking to ones guns and requiring true retail presences in and around the main thoroughfares might entail some short term pain, the long term consequences (like real estate offices, mortgage firms, the Chamber, etc. occupying prime locations for years on end) are much worse - a dead, underperforming, unrealized downtown. Certainly the latter course has been followed for the better part of three decades and what we have now is the result of that.

It should be noted that the city plan requiring retail in Old Town was amended in the last two years to only apply to the main streets of Main & El Camino Real. The thinking in City Hall was that any occupancy was better than no occupancy on the connecting side streets. I agreed with this at the time in exchange for the strengthening of rules defining what “retail” was for the main streets in hopes of attritioning out businesses not conducive to foot traffic & window shopping.

Unfortunately, since then this has not happened even when the opportunity has presented itself. And the Prospect Village cave-in only emphasizes the point.

However, through the heroic efforts of existing retailers and restauranteurs, downtown seems to be on an upswing, if you’re grading on a curve. Hopefully this organic effort is sustainable and we’ll see it reach critical mass in the next couple of years. Personally, I think if the music scene got a foothold (think feature articles in OC Weekly etc.), word would get out and the rest would follow.

-gb

There is an absolutely outstanding base to build from in this small town, and it almost feels like it’s on the verge of being found. But I think the only way to nurture that development is going to be with a strong emphasis on preserving the charm of Old Town, and the historic aspect of the city–it just needs to be polished up a bit. If this has been the same story for the last 25 years, I can see how people might be a bit skeptical, but from my perspective (as a recent resident only here for 1.5 years), I’m just amazed that Main & El Camino Real hasn’t become the center of a vibrant night life and local hot spot. But I would sooner look to a place like downtown Savannah, GA as a larger scale model than some place like the Marketplace or Tustin Legacy.

I don’t currently have the experience to know how one goes about promoting that kind of development, but I like the ideas put out so far. A night time farmers market would be great, and any additional weekend events like the flea market would certainly help as well. Prospect Village certainly seems like a step in the right direction too. It will be interesting to see how this plays out, but it seems like the first step is getting some people on the streets.

I agree that Old Town lacks some diversity. The lack of (live) music is particularly ‘loud’. I personally think some evening jazz would add a nice alternative crowd. I’m pretty sure a restaurant or two would keep later hours to pick up on the extra foot traffic.

Ironically, the old TOTA tried to get the Farmers Market to change their time. In what ended up being one of the most rude conversations of my professional life, the syndicate that owns the market not only wouldn’t entertain the move, they threatened to pull out entirely and lean on the vendors if we even thought about bringing in a second market (say on Friday night). Go figure. The city wasn’t much help because the market pays rent to a private land owner for the right to set up each week.

I would love to get to the market myself, but I’m almost never free Wednesday afternoons.

Hopefully letters like yours and sites like this will spark something downtown. With a dozen restaurants, it wouldn’t take much to reach critical mass. And who knows, with the dozen shops opening in Prospect Village, we might soon get some interesting window shopping.

Having a coffee and ice cream option would definitely be a step in the right directions in regards to the introduction of a night life to the feel of Old Town Tustin.