gmhTODAY 23 gmhTODAY Dec Jan 2018 | Page 54

Downtown Gilroy Update I f you have walked or driven through Downtown Gilroy you will notice a significant amount of construction activity. Is the area turning the corner into the more prosperous and vital downtown we all want? Gilroy residents watch with envy as downtown Morgan Hill has been transformed into a dining and entertainment destination. Restaurants, apartments, condos and shops are blossoming everywhere. Thanks to significant municipal support and significant private investments, downtown Morgan Hill has arrived. Downtown Gilroy is also changing, but at a much slower pace and much less large investment. In the area of affordable housing, two major projects will be accepting tenants soon—the large Alexander Street Apartments, a 262-unit development on 10 th Street, plans to welcome its first residents by the end of November and the Cannery Apartments on Lewis Street, with plans for 104-units and 7,000 square feet of commercial space, advertises a grand opening in the winter of 2018-19. Along Monterey Street, in the historic core from 3rd to 6th Streets a number of things are happening: Intero Real Estate Services will be moving into their new offices at 7652 Monterey Road soon; Downtown Skateboards at 7600 Monterey Road opened recently in the Garlic Festival Building; further towards 5th Street, Garlic City Mercantile has new owners; and Downtown Furniture recently opened. Across the street, the downtown welcomes The Realty Society. While the doors are closed at Golden State Brewery right now they are promising a grand reopening in early December. The Brewery will have a wide variety of beers on tap, a full bar and a two hundred seat full-service restaurant. The kitchen will be open so patrons can watch the cooking 54 GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN operations and a large bar will face the brewing tanks. The tall folding doors and the outdoor patio will continue to offer that indoor-outdoor dining experience. Across the street, on the west side, progress is being made on several of the URM buildings. In the Mafalda Building at 7539 Monterey Street, a two-story restaurant with a roof- top deck is scheduled to open late in the summer of 2019. Nearby at 7554 Monterey Street, a beer, wine, and sandwich shop, with a courtyard dining area in back, is scheduled to open soon. Rumor has it that it might be called Gilroy Public, a throwback to the British Public Houses or Pubs. Back on the east side of Monterey the parking lot at 5th Street has a new mural celebrating the thriving local wine businesses. A downtown favorite, Amoretto Boutique, has now changed hands and is now called Ivory Boutique. The smaller shop in the back, once home to itty bitty boutique, is now a skin care center called Beauty Marks. A new venture, the Neon Exchange (co-working center) is taking over the old historic Gilroy Hotel between 6th and 7th Streets. The Neon Exchange website says: “The Neon Exchange is a community of women seeking to enrich the mind, body and soul all in one platform. We accomplish this by leveraging our gifts and talents with one another with four guiding principles in mind. Educate, Enlighten, Encourage, Empathize.” The Neon Exchange does not have a firm opening date yet but hopes to begin accepting co-working partners soon. A few doors down, another brew pub is in the works. Lonely Oak Brewing Company will be located at 7373 Monterey Street. december 2018-january 2019 gmhtoday.com RICHARD Written By Larry J. Mickartz