Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of articles focusing on downtown Watsonville.
WATSONVILLE — In 1956, workers poured the foundation for the J.C. Penney department store at 501 Main St., a building that would eventually become the Centro Mall. That endeavor dwindled until the building was all but empty.
Now a new business has moved in, and with it comes a rebirth of the once decrepit building.
Watsonville Home Elegance, a furniture store, is the newest business along the Main Street corridor, which for years has contained several unoccupied businesses.
The store’s 16,000 square feet includes renovated ceiling and floors, and with hundreds of new sofas, beds and other items, the interior looks new.
The store is the newest neighbor in an area that has seen shifting fortunes since the city’s heyday as an agricultural epicenter.
An informal survey by this newspaper along Main Street found 11 empty businesses on a stretch from Second Street to East Fifth Street. This includes the twice-shuttered Fox Theater and the Porter Building. Perhaps most notably, the list includes the massive building that formerly housed the Gottschalks department store.
According to Assistant City Manager Matt Huffaker, the downtown area has been the slowest area to recover from the 2008 economic recession.
“While Watsonville Home Elegance opening in the former Discount Mall on Main Street is a positive, many storefronts still remain empty,” he said. “Over the next year, the city will be continuing to focus on economic development in the downtown area.”
Main Street also boasts several longtime businesses and a handful of new and up-and-coming ones.
Downtown Watsonville is currently getting a facelift with The Terrace, a new three-story apartment building at 445 Main St.
In addition to apartments for rent, the project will feature ground-level businesses.
Located in what was once Hansen Park, the project is expected to be completed in the spring.
Huffaker said that the city is focusing on encouraging more mixed-use development.
One of downtown’s newest businesses is Foreverfly Skate, a skateboard shop that opened on Oct. 15 at 442 Main St.
Owner Sal Orozco, a lifelong Watsonville resident, said he wanted to tap into the local skater community while staying involved with a lifelong hobby.
“This is my town,” he said. “This is my city.”
In addition to skateboards, Orozco also sells skate apparel and footwear.
Shopping centers have recovered the fastest from the recession, with the highest demand for retail space and the lowest vacancy rates in the city, particularly those in close proximity to Highway 1, Huffaker said.
In addition, the city saw an uptick in the commercial and light industrial market, including the expansion of Nordic Naturals near the airport, the re-tenancy of the former FedEx warehouse at 165 Technology Drive and filling the former Orchard Supply Hardware building with Harbor Freight and Hope Thrift.
Huffaker also pointed to the redevelopment of the former World War II building at 45 Aviation Way into a mixed-used commercial development.
City officials also hope to attract visitors through an ongoing beautification project, and by expanding downtown events such as the Music in the Plaza summer concert series, Huffaker said.
Pajaro Valley Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture CEO Shaz Roth said the city is making a “concerted effort” to fill the empty spaces, and to attract customers to the existing ones.
“They are trying to get a diverse set of businesses downtown,” she said.
This includes the city’s first-ever Art and Wine Stroll on May 12, during which several downtown businesses open their doors to the public, with art displays and a winery or brewery offering their wares in each one.
“The goal is to get people walking through the businesses,” she said. “Maybe by drawing people downtown they can see that Watsonville has a lot to offer.”
