Ken Rodrigues of Imwalle & Rodrigues shared his
inspiration for a 2-building, 4-restaurant venue on 3rd and
Monterey. The Imwalle & Rodrigues team was instrumental
in the transformation of Campbell’s downtown into a dining
destination and is excited to be part of the revitalization of
Morgan Hill’s Downtown. Rodrigues showcased the new
restaurants for his site: Opa!, Willard Hick’s, Tac-Oh! and Mo’s
Burgers. The layout of the two buildings will allow for out-
door dining at each of the four restaurants. The site is fenced
off, the old liquor store building is gone and construction will
start soon with project completion estimated for early 2017.
PLACEMAKING AND
IMPROVING THE PUBLIC REALM
The second panel of the day focused on placemaking and
improving the public realm. Chris Ghione, Morgan Hill’s
Community Services Director, highlighted for the community
two new planned parks and one trail within downtown. The
first park located at Depot and 3rd Streets (near the train
station) will have a large play structure to support the new
residential development occurring in and around downtown.
A passive park is planned for the west side of Monterey on
3rd Streets, behind the Ladera Restaurant. And a trail up
to the Nob Hill water tower will offer people more hiking
opportunities. A fun feature planned for the Hilltop Trail
includes a slide.
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
Gordon Huether, the artist responsible for the Poppy Jasper
and Tarantula art installations at the 3rd Street Parking Garage,
highlighted the role public art plays in communities. Huether
noted many different public art installations from his portfolio
and described their relationship to their specific communities.
Both Poppy Jasper and Tarantulas have a significance in Morgan
Hill and the surrounding area and provided the inspiration
for the two installations associated with the parking garage.
Similarly, the Encompass Art installation at the Community
Center marries the mountain range topography surrounding
Morgan Hill and the communities cycling interest.
Michael Mulcahy, a key property owner in the Willow Glen
Business District, spoke about the various efforts over the years
to make Willow Glen a fun, active and attractive place to visit.
Downtown Willow Glen has many similarities to Downtown
Morgan Hill, including: roadway improvements, low vacancy/
high rents, and a lack of retail users relative to dining options.
Mulcahy shared his perspective on the need and benefit to
slowing down traffic and activating the street with curb cafés,
public art, public gateways and open space.
Tim Rood with Community Design and Architect is
developing a station area masterplan for the City of Morgan
Hill. Rood discussed how Morgan Hill is connected through
transit, walking, biking and vehicle travel. As part of the station
area masterplan, the community was invited to provide feed-
back on parking, mixed uses, walking and biking.
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016
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