The changing face of Old Town

By: MICHAEL BUCHANAN - Staff Writer | Friday, October 22, 2004 11:40 PM PDT ∞

TEMECULA ---- Chris Baily sat at the marbled bar of his new restaurant in Old Town as dozens of people munched on salads and sipped water out of long-stemmed glasses.

The new Front Street Bar & Grill opened for business Thursday on the first floor of an elaborately designed, two-story building at the corner of Second and Old Town Front streets. The second floor of the building will be the new Baily's restaurant, which opens Wednesday.

The establishment will be the first of its kind in Old Town and a sign, city officials say, that Old Town is becoming a draw for its residents rather than just a weekend tourist trap.

"Old Town was the heart of Temecula," said City Councilman Jeff Comerchero, who heads the city's redevelopment agency. "It really hasn't been up to this point."

Baily's isn't the only large project going on in Old Town that the city considers a step in the right direction. A coffee roasting house is being built at the corner of Mercedes and Fifth streets as part of 17,334-square-foot building that will also house professional offices. Demolition has begun to renovate Butterfield Square at Third and Front streets to make way for a restaurant, and work has begun on a 12,500-square-foot building next to the rustic-looking Chaparral Center at Sixth and Old Town Front streets that will likely hold more shops and office space.

There are also plans to add restaurants to the Penfold building on the west side of Front Street between Fourth and Fifth, and a proposal to build a two-story Victorian building a the southeast corner of Fourth and Mercedes streets with more shops and offices.

And looming over all this activity is the metal scaffolding of the city's $9.5 million community theater, which is under construction and slated to open next summer. When it does, it will seat more than 300 people.

Baily said the theater is a big reason he decided to move his business to Old Town from its previous location in the Temecula Town Center at Rancho California and Ynez roads.

He added that he'll be offering live jazz and acoustic music until 1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturday to attract a late-night crowd to the area.

"We wanted to be a leader ---- an example ---- of what the city is trying to do," Baily said.

But that's a risky proposition, and Baily said he knows that. He spent $3 million on his new operation ---- which employs 80 people ---- and he's banking on Old Town becoming the vibrant area the city has envisioned.

That vision started back in 1998, when the city launched a $5.5 million streetscape project, including new curbs, gutters, street lights and other improvements. The city then commissioned a $40,000 study to figure out what else was needed to make Old Town the center of Temecula.

One of the things the study called for was increasing the number of restaurants and public attractions, said John Meyer, the city's redevelopment director.

"The museum and theater could have gone a lot of different places, but we specifically brought them to Old Town to get more people there," Meyer said.

The city has pumped around $20 million into Old Town, including nearly $4 million to buy land around Mercedes Street and to hire an architect to start drawing up plans for a new civic center there. The proposed civic center, which would house a new City Hall, was another element of the 1998 study.

"The civic center will be the most significant boost to Old Town from an economic standpoint," Meyer said. "It does well on the weekends with the tourist trade, but we need to get more locals there during the week."

But some Old Town merchants still say the city has not done enough.

Standing in Rosa's Cantina among his bustling lunch crowd, owner Mike Thesing said the city has not provided enough parking for businesses. The proof, he said, is the number of cars parked in his parking lot that don't belong to his customers.

"I'm here at 11 a.m. and my lot is full," Thesing said. "And there's only seven or eight people in my restaurant."

Down the street, Bill Hanson showed off some of the clocks in his custom shop. His shop opens up to the theater looming above the roofs across Front Street. He said he doubts the theater will help his business, considering most shows will be at night.

"Like most of the merchants, I close at 5 p.m.," Hanson said. "That (theater) isn't doing me any good."

Some merchants have also banded together to oppose the retail portion of the Saturday farmers market, which they say unfairly competes with their businesses. But some members of the City Council, namely Comerchero, have said the market brings more people to Old Town than would normally come on a Saturday.

On Friday, Comerchero said the merchants are an integral part of Old Town. But it's things like the theater and other public attractions that will bring people to Old Town every day of the week.

"We don't want to see (the antique trade) go away," Comerchero said. "Nor do I want to see it be the only factor in Old Town."

First name only. Comments including last names, contact addresses, email addresses or phone numbers will be deleted. All comments are screened before they appear online, so please keep them brief. Comments reflect the views of those commenting and not necessarily those of the North County Times or its staff writers. Click here to view additional comment policies.