GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The City Commission voted unanimously to pay up to $4.5 million to renovate the Streatery, a downtown walking district that offers outdoor seating for restaurants, along with space for special events.
The agreement caps the cost of the project with exceptions possible if the scope of the project changes.
The tentative date to begin construction on the renovations is April 13. The city hopes to finish by the first Florida Gators home football game in September. The work will be managed by D.E. Scorpio Corp.
If the project is not completed by then, the city hopes to be done in October for Fest, the underground music festival that has been a fixture for two decades. No timeline is set in stone, said Brian Singleton, the city’s interim chief operating officer, at last week’s city commission meeting.
What is the Streatery?
The city created the Streatery when it blocked off the stretch of Southwest First Avenue between South Main Street and Southwest Second Street during the COVID-19 pandemic to allow businesses to use the street for outdoor seating.
Since then, the Streatery has remained blocked off and become a fixture of downtown. Mayor Harvey Ward said he has been anticipating the Streatery’s renovation since 2020.
The Streatery hosts community events like the Downtown Market Series with its Spring Market Series beginning Friday.
Loosey’s and The Bull continue to use the Streatery for outdoor seating.
Businesses on the Streatery also use it for special events. As many as 200 people come to weekly Gator Salsa Club dancing lessons hosted by The Bull.
Colin Williams, Gator Salsa Club attendee, said the Streatery is the perfect venue for salsa dancing because indoor salsa classes get too stuffy.
How Bazaar produces the Big Culture and Arts Festival which fills the Streatery. This year’s festival will take place from April 10 to April 12.
What are the city’s plans for the renovations?
The city plans to renovate the blocked off street into a curbless street for pedestrians.
The renovations will include more trees, outdoor lighting and outlets for food trucks as well as making the street compliant with the standards set in the Americans with Disabilities Act, according to an announcement by the city.
The bricks currently on the street will be taken off for repairs of the 125-year-old storm water drainage system and the electrical infrastructure, and new bricks will allow for pedestrians to walk without fear of tripping on old, uneven bricks, the mayor said.
The renovations will allow the space to better serve as a venue for community events. The city announcement said events that will be hosted on the Streatery include art festivals, food truck rallies and farmers markets.
“We’re just trying to make it a very nice place for pedestrians to be able to walk, for folks to have events [and] for there to be arts, culture and music in that area,” City Commissioner Bryan Eastman said.
Why is the city doing these renovations?
Eastman said the project will help make downtown a more people-focused environment.
Ward said that the city wants to encourage people to spend time downtown.
Community meetings helped put the city and residents on the same page and let residents explain how they want the Streatery to look, according to Eastman.
Teresa Callen, vice-chair of the Downtown Advisory Board, said the renovations will help downtown continue growing. She said it’s important to provide people an outdoor space and venue to hang out in, and the Streatery gives the city a “visible outdoor venue that’s really necessary as the city grows out.”
She looks at cities such as Savannah, New York and New Orleans with outdoor spaces for residents that are popular and ingrained into city culture as inspirations for her vision of outdoor spaces in Gainesville.
Callen also said that with the pedestrian traffic the renovations will generate she would like to see more varied shops and service businesses open next to the already diverse businesses on the Streatery such as bars, restaurants and a medical marijuana dispensary.
“We have a diverse city. So, we should have diverse businesses to reflect the diversity of our city and what the population is asking for,” Callen said.
How will the construction affect the area?
Construction will inevitably provide hiccups in the downtown’s traffic flow, according to Callen.
Jacob Larson, owner of The Bull, said the inability to host Gator Salsa Club dance lessons because of construction will cut out a major revenue source for the bar. Larson said almost half the people who do the dance lessons come inside for a drink or two.
The Bull will make a Patreon fund-raising page that allows for former and current patrons to help the business get through the construction, he said..
Ward said that none of the businesses on the Streatery will need to be closed for construction.
“We hope to have very little impact on business activity during construction and have a lot of impact on business activity once it’s open,” Ward said.
Callen wants to make residents more aware of the amount of parking in downtown Gainesville like the “underutilized” SW Downtown Parking Garage at the end of the Streatery as well as street and city-sponsored free parking lots that are outlined on a map linked in the city of Gainesville website.
How will the renovated Streatery affect the area?
Ward said the space will be a great place to hang out with friends and enjoy all that downtown has to offer.
Callen said the Streatery will create a popular area for small businesses to grow.
Larson expects the increased pedestrian traffic to bring up to a 25% sales increase for The Bull.
He does not expect food truck rallies and farmers markets to cut into business on the Streatery because the exposure of having a visible business during a food truck rally outweighs the few times a year it would cut into sales.
“Downtown serves as an incubator for small businesses. I think the Streatery is going to give a lot of audience to any businesses that open up right there,” Callen said.