City loan proposed for Mall redesign

BOULDER — The redesign of Boulder’s Pearl Street Mall, which has been discussed for more than a year, tentatively will be financed with a loan from the city, according to Downtown Management Commission (DMC) Executive Director Molly Winter.

“The city council has given a ‘conceptual nod,’ ” to the plan, Winter says. The plan calls for the city to front the money, which Winter estimated will be about $4 million, for the mall redesign project. The DMC would pay the loan back with the $325,000 it’s budgeted each year for capital improvement.

After an initial conceptual design phase, the redesign process has just entered its second phase. The DMC is now in negotiations with OZ Architecture. After the negotiations are complete, the DMC will know exactly what improvements will be made on the mall and how much they will cost. At that point, they can get a final approval from the city council on the improvements and the financing.

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Boulder City Councilman Tom Eldridge, who owns Tom’s Tavern in downtown Boulder, said he was confident that the financing would be approved.

As for the improvements, he says, “Nothing’s done until it’s done.”

The conceptual plan calls for subtle changes that improve on the success of the mall, such as adding outdoor eating areas and new signage and replacing the children’s bridge and the lighting fixtures on the light posts. More major changes include opening up the “book ends” of the mall on 15th and 11th, improving the 1300 block and a proposed pop-jet fountain.

About the proposed changes Eldridge says, “Everybody’s got a different idea …You don’t ever get a plan that everybody is 100 percent behind. It’s a typical Boulder issue.”

Tapping into those different ideas was an important part of the process, though, Winter says. “This has been a very public process because this is such a beloved part of the city. We want to involve people.”

John Mehaffy, board chairman of the Downtown Boulder Business Improvement District (DBBID), agrees. “The city has been very open and very responsive.”

DBBID, a non-profit organization that promotes downtown and works with downtown merchants, will participate in the improvement with enhanced maintenance and communication with merchants.

DBBID will keep the Downtown Management Commission “advised of any construction that might affect them and make sure that we are their advocates and representatives as this process ensues,” says Jane Jenkins, executive director of DBBID.

“We can help a lot with our marketing plans. When you start these kinds of public improvements, there’s ways that you can have marketing plans to let people know that there’s going to be construction and you’re still open for business. I think that’s where we can really play a role in terms of mitigating some of the disruptions with good communication,” she says.

She also adds that DBBID will be a place for the businesses to go if the improvements are constantly getting too much in the way.

The construction will start in January 2001 “at the earliest,” Winter says. “We don’t want to interfere with the Christmas season.”