Press Release
NC Times 6/8/06
Developer has grand plan for Old Town
By: DEIRDRE NEWMAN - Staff Writer
TEMECULA ---- "Nothing to do" is typically the lament of teenagers. But the refrain has also been heard from people who moved to the area from more urban regions and are looking for more places to go in the evenings, said developer Al Rattan.
He thinks he has the panacea for their complaint.
Rattan has proposed a three-story building on Third Street in Old Town that would house restaurants and retail establishments. He envisions a restaurant row starting with Baily's, which is at Third and Old Town Front streets.
He also has grandiose plans for Murrieta Creek, which wends its way through the city's historic district and has been prone to severe flooding. He wants the city to create a river walk similar to the one in San Antonio, Texas, where a series of canals and walkways would be established and visitors could take ferries to various restaurants near the creek, he said.
"Many cities across the country are reclaiming rivers and creeks, and people love the idea of having a water setting," he said.
City Councilman Chuck Washington said he is thrilled with the idea of a river walk, as long as it doesn't interfere with an ongoing effort to stop the creek from flooding.
"I'm all for the vision if we can figure out a way to make it happen without (running) counter to our primary concern of public safety," he said.
Rattan also wants to develop an artists village on Pujol Street with three-story townhomes that would enable creative types to work in studios on the first floor and live on the top two floors.
More culinary choices
Rattan's development and construction company, Renaissance Ventures, has been around for more than 15 years and moved to Old Town two years ago. It developed Renaissance Estates in De Luz, which spawned the first million-dollar home sale in the Temecula area in 1999, he said. As people started moving into these estate homes from places like Rancho Santa Fe, many of the women mentioned there wasn't a lot to do at night, he said.
"We figured we made such a significant investment, that we thought, 'What can we do?'" he said. "And, right at the bottom of the hill, we found the perfect opportunity. We think of it more as downtown than Old Town."
Rattan submitted an application for the building he wants to put up at the western end of Third Street next to the creek within the last month. It would be called Renaissance Station and the building's architecture would be based on a 1920s-style firehouse.
Chris Baily, the owner of Baily's Fine Dining, said he would welcome more restaurants close to his.
"The more, the merrier," he said. "I think that's a good thing. We need more things down in Old Town to make it a compelling destination for residents and visitors of the valley."
Other developers who share their vision for Old Town as a happening night spot are Bill Dalton, who plans on some restaurants moving into two of his three buildings on Fifth Street, and Fred Perkins, who also plans some eateries in his two buildings planned for Fourth and Fifth streets.
Focusing on the creek
Rattan thinks this is an opportune time to create a river walk in conjunction with the flood-control project, he said. He credited former City Councilman Karl Lindemans for the original idea.
The proposed flood channel, a joint effort between the county and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, is slated to run seven miles, from Old Town Temecula to Tenaja Road in Murrieta. The creek has flooded six times since 1938. The last four ---- 1980, 1993, 1995 and 1998 ---- were all declared federal disasters.
Key project features include shoring up banks in Old Town with decorative concrete, building a basin for holding and slowly releasing excess water along the Murrieta-Temecula boundary, and building bridges along Main Street in Temecula and Ivy and Guava streets in Murrieta.
There are also cosmetic features, such as a sports park, bicycle path and horse trail. The second phase of this project, which goes from First Street to Winchester Road, is awaiting a requested $11.5 million in federal funding.
Rattan said all that would be needed for a river walk is a series of locks ---- concrete devices with metal gates that lower in heavy currents and are raised the rest of the time to keep the water circulating.
The city has asked Rattan to do a feasibility study of the river walk concept, Washington said. Rattan said he would be happy to help pay for part of the cost, but not foot the entire bill for a study.
Plans for housing, also
In addition to making Old Town a more appealing destination, Rattan also wants to make it a more enticing place for artists to live.
The application for the artists village, which would be known as Renaissance Villages, was submitted to the city last August. The development would emulate other artists villages such as one in downtown Santa Ana and one in San Marcos, Rattan said. The new community theater, which opened last fall, was an inspiration for this project.
"Given we've got a brand new theater, we thought it might be nice to get some artists," Rattan said.
The project would have 58 townhomes on Pujol Street, just north of Main Street, that would be sold, not rented. As part of this project, Rattan is in the midst of trying to acquire about a half acre of city-owned property to the south. He and the city are in negotiations for this swath and the city wants Rattan to develop some affordable housing units as part of the deal, Redevelopment Director John Meyer said last week.
As part of the negotiations, Rattan said the city asked him to provide 10 affordable units, an amount he said he is amenable to. The units would be in the moderately-affordable category, which means that the tenants' income cannot be more than 120 percent of the median income in Riverside County, adjusted for family size, city officials have said. These units would be interspersed throughout the development, he added.
"The benefit is that there's not a perception that it's solely an affordable housing project," he said. "You probably get better pride of ownership."
Rattan is interested in acquiring the city property, which is long and narrow, because he thinks that property and the one he owns next to it would be better developed if they were planned together, he said.
The development seeks to fill a housing niche for which many are clamoring, he said.
"Research tells us one in three Americans crave an urban, downtown lifestyle," he said.
Contact staff writer Deirdre Newman at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2623, or dnewman@californian.com
