Quaint and quiet East Prospect Avenue is about to be revamped. Construction has begun on a 12,524-square-foot building to be called Prospector Square, replacing the carpet store Davis & Daughters.
Prospector Square will house both new retail shops and offices. This past week, demolition crews were out in the 100-degree heat tearing down the old Davis & Daughters building, which was once the post office, and a residential-looking building to the west that used to hold offices. The 18,588-square-foot site is owned by the Danville-based development company, Pearson & Williams, which also owns the Vecki House on Front Street.
Prospector Square will be two stories, a bit over 30 feet tall. The bottom floor will be retail space and the top floor will be offices. Due to its historic downtown location, architects coordinated with town staff in designing a look for the new building that was both attractive and fitting.
“[The town] is very involved in the conceptual ideas. We balance ideas,” said Rich Caragol, a project manager at Barry and Volkman, the architectural company designing Prospector Square. “When you’re putting a building this size in the downtown, it has to look incremental, like it’s been built over a period of time. Like it could have evolved.”
The building will look residential in character, and will have the look of different structures that were joined over time.
Architects incorporated different features of the downtown into the new building, like the brick character of the store Forward Motion and the Victorian charm of Mollys Pup-Purr-ee.
“It’s a little ‘Victorian’ and ‘bungalow.’ It will echo the things you see in town,” said Caragol.
Merchants on East Prospect feel both enthusiastic about Prospector Square and wary. Luis Sanchez, manager at Father Nature’s Shed, feels the new businesses are beneficial to the economy on the avenue.
“They will bring more business for sure. We can share the customers,” said Sanchez. He pointed out that customers often eat at Father’s Nature Shed and then cross the street to get a pedicure at Tootsies.
Although the number of offices and retail shops to be in the completed project is still unknown, some merchants on East Prospect are concerned that the new building will add to the existing parking squeeze on the avenue.
Mardi Beck, owner of the Body Adventure across the street from Prospector Square site, said the timing is bad. “Parking is a real issue.”
While Beck believes there are benefits to the new retail space and it will be attractive, she is concerned that the 22 private parking spaces slated for Prospector Square will not be enough. Beck’s business has three parking spaces; two are for herself and an employee, leaving one space for a customer. The lack of immediate parking on East Prospect keeps customers away, Beck believes.
Parking can also be problematic at Father Nature’s Shed. The restaurant has a small parking area that can fit five to six cars.
“It’s always a complaint. ‘We’re late because we can’t find parking.’ It’s always a problem,” said Sanchez. While the lack of parking sometimes deters people, Sanchez is confidant that determined customers always find a way to park.
Prospector Square will have a path directly to the new 85 parking spots being built by the town at 77 Front St., but Beck believes the timing will not work. Prospector Square is expected to be up and running in summer 2006. Construction on the new Front Street parking lot is expected to start next spring, said Danville Principal Planner David Crompton. It is still unclear when the new parking lot will open.
“They’ve approved a lot of new buildings,” said Beck. She is concerned the town has not required enough parking from the new businesses.
Both Kim Williams, the owner of Prospector Square, and Crompton believe there will be sufficient parking on East Prospect.
“This is going to be a huge improvement to parking,” said Williams.
Crompton acknowledged that parking on East Prospect Avenue is challenging. “Parking isn’t distributed in a manner that is good for East Prospect. You have to go either to the Village parking lot or Railroad. There isn’t proximate parking,” said Crompton.
He noted that in other cities, like Walnut Creek, people are used to walking a few blocks to their destination. In Danville, it’s a different mentality, Crompton said. But he believes Pearson & Williams has gone above and beyond what the town requires.
“Theoretically she could have paid 100 percent in-lieu fees for offsite parking. She was aware that Prospect is an impacted area parking wise. [Prospector Square] will carry its own weight. The spillover is going to be right next door to the town’s lot,” he said, referring to the new Front Street parking lot. “I think things will be better.”
In addition to Prospector Square, a new meal assembly business called Now We’re Cooking is moving into the space where Cooks and Books and Corks used to be. Now We’re Cooking does all the prep work for gourmet home-cooked meals, such as cashew-crusted halibut with a pepper papaya salsa. Customers reserve a time to come into the store to prepare from eight to 16 meals at a time. Once prepared, the meals are ready to go into the freezer.
Owner Lisa Bretschneider is excited and optimistic about her new space. “I think it’s fantastic. That central downtown part of Danville is such a wonderful place. We’ve loved that space forever,” she said.
Bretschneider was not overly concerned about parking for her customers.
“It’s not that bad. We have some parking and there are several downtown lots. We as a business are going to do what we can for our customers,” she said.
One idea she had was to use the driveway as a loading and unloading zone. Bretschneider hopes to open in September.
Also a new maternity store called Babies and Bellies will open where the home store Hidden Treasures used to be. The store, slated to open Sept. 9, is owned by four local women.
“We’re all mothers who went through pregnancy and maternity at the same time,” said co-owner Nicole Hawkins. The new maternity store will sell a wide price range of maternity, infant and children’s clothing. Presently, the owners are reinventing the space.
“We’ve taken down the walls and put up new dry wall. We’re going to paint the front, put in new plants, new signs. The front is going to look different, it’s going to be cleaned up,” said Hawkins.
The owners are hopeful that their maternity store will benefit from the location.
“It seems to be where everyone kind of wanders. Everyone shops down that street. There’s Flaunt, the pedicure place, Ella J’s, the coffee shop. A lot of mothers seem to walk down that street. We think it’s a great location,” said Hawkins.
