WESTERN SNAPSHOT, SEPTEMBER 2006

Palm Springs, California

A rendering of developer Lawrence Rael’s One Palm Canyon redevelopment project in Palm Springs. Opening June 2008, this downtown center will include 25,000 square feet of street-level retail, 116 residential condos and 16 work/live units.

“The mixed-use projects located in the downtown central business district will be the first to break ground and bring this type of product to the city,” she says. “These types of projects help the city in two ways – they bring more full-time and seasonal residents to the downtown shopping, dining and entertainment district, and they bring retail space up to today’s retail standards.“

Van Horn is referring to the One Palm Canyon and South Palm Canyon mixed-use developments that are currently in the planning stages. The former project, to be developed by Lawrence Rael, will be located on 4 acres stretching from the corner of Palm Canyon and Ajejo Road to the southwest corner of Indian Canyon. Slated for completion in June 2008, the property will consist of 25,000 square feet of retail space situated below 116 residential condos and 16 live/work units. South Palm Canyon, a Brian Linnekens development, will occupy the almost 3 acres between the southeast corner of Palm Canyon and Ramon and Indian Canyon. It will feature 125 condos on top of nearly 32,500 square feet of retail.

“These two projects are redevelopment projects that will replace blighted, outdated and underutilized buildings,” says Van Horn, noting that, aside from the empty Desert Fashion Plaza, which is slated for redevelopment, vacancy in Palm Springs’ core downtown submarket is less than 8 percent. “The retailers see that the residential growth in nearby communities and in Palm Springs supports an additional store for the western part of the Coachella Valley.”

Steve Lyle, president of Coldwell Banker Commercial/Lyle & Associates, says that Palm Springs’ downtown restaurants do very good business, but the district’s retail performance has lagged. This has been ever apparent since the closing of the Desert Fashion Plaza.

“We need the town not to shut down so early where it becomes too quiet,” says Lyle. “It would be very desirable if these condos are more tourist-oriented and are not just for the people living downtown. The people could leave their cars and have access within walking distance to entertainment, dining and retail.”

Once completed, the mixed-use projects will give the downtown more of a “sense of place” and a 24-7 character. The charming, pedestrian-friendly village and the recent expansion of the Convention Center already put downtown Palm Springs ahead of the game in its aims for rejuvenation. A mixed-use redevelopment of the vacant downtown mall, the conceptual framework of which Wessman Development has been hard at work on, would go a long way toward that end, says Lyle.

Another mixed-use project in the planning stages — this one outside of Palm Springs’ downtown submarket — is The Art Colony, which will offer 25,000 square feet of retail space, 15 live/work units, 71 apartments and 82 homes, according to Van Horn.

The expanded Convention Center, two new hotel developments — including a Hard Rock property — and nearly 800,000 square feet of new retail offerings that begin opening in spring 2007 ensure that Palms Springs will remain a hot spot for business visitors and vacationers alike. The new mixed-use wave will add a fresh residential/business dynamic to the city’s core.

©2006 France Publications, Inc. Duplication or reproduction of this article not permitted without authorization from France Publications, Inc. For information on reprints of this article contact Barbara Sherer at (630) 554-6054.