Retail rebounds in Redwood City

A retail renaissance is under way in downtown Redwood City thanks to the one-two punch of an improved economy and a building boom.

New retail space is part of several major construction projects, including 10,000 square feet at 525 Middlefield Road, 5,075 square feet at 950 Middlefield Road and 2,800 square feet at 601 Main St.

Another sign of success: University Art reopened last month in an 11,000-square-foot building at 2550 El Camino Real. The family-owned business moved to Redwood City after being priced out of Palo Alto.

The trend is being welcomed in a city that just two years ago was pondering whether to allow property owners to lease scores of empty ground-floor storefronts to office tenants. Today, more than 1,600 new homes and 300,000 square feet of office space are in the construction pipeline. The influx of residents and workers will support new shops and restaurants, said Mayor Jeffrey Gee.

"The vision for downtown ... has a mix of uses, not just residential, but offices, retail, entertainment," Gee said during a phone interview Monday. "I've always said retail was going to come last."

The city's economic development division is marketing the city to businesses, telling them, "now is the time to get on board," Gee said.

Improving occupancy levels will bring both "vitality" and increased safety to the city center, Gee said.

"It brings eyes on the street," he said. "Those downtowns that focus on just the commercial -- when those workers go home, the downtown is empty."

To support and improve the surging downtown, property owners voted in July to tax themselves to pay for extra services such as increased sidewalk maintenance, landscaping, marketing and security.

While Redwood City-specific data was not immediately available, San Mateo County's shopping center vacancy rate is among the lowest in the Bay Area, according to a second quarter report published by Terranomics, the retail division of the commercial real estate firm Cassidy Turley.

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Retail rebounds in Redwood City