Envisioning ‘One of the Best Downtowns in the Valley’

Elected leaders, city officials, contractors, shop owners and curious residents all gathered for a celebration in Downtown Merced on Tuesday to mark the continued progress of the Bob Hart Square revitalization project, as well as recognize the dedication of Main Street businesses that remain open and operational during construction. 

“As you can see it’s actually happening,” said Mike Harris, the city councilman who represents District 3 and the downtown area. “Everything is finally coming together. Some of the parking will be a challenge for a few months, but come on down anyway. It’s a pleasure to walk downtown, find places to eat and things to do. We appreciate the businesses that are here.” 

Mayor Matt Serratto spoke about the effort to make a “better, more vibrant downtown” in the heart of the city, with the support of the new Downtown Merced Property Owners Association, cleanup initiatives, and “great public investment.”  

“When we looked at other cities, and studied all the other great downtowns in the valley, they all had great public investment,” the mayor pointed out. “It was a lot of the basic things, like parking, and gathering spaces. And that’s what we are working on today here in Bob Hart Square. We are extending it to 16th Street, and we will create a beautiful gathering space for the whole community to love, enjoy and cherish. … I’m really excited about the future of Downtown Merced.”

Officials also pointed to the Main Street One-Way project that will be starting “in another month or two,” when workers will begin to re-surface and re-stripe Main Street. Traffic will eventually flow one-way in a westerly direction from Martin Luther King Jr. Way to O Street. All the new work projects downtown are expected to be completed by the end of summer, or early fall. 

Mayor Serratto said street reconfiguration projects on and around Main Street has already added more than 43 additional parking spaces, and more are expected to be opened up.  

Looking Back, Thinking Forward

Of all the people gathered at the square on Tuesday, 93-year-old E.J. Lorenzi had the deepest perspective and appreciation for what revitalization projects have done to make downtown a better place for residents. 

Lorenzi remembers a time, some 40 years ago, when Bob Hart Square was nothing but an empty lot with some overgrown grass. Back then, Canal Street was not blocked off, and it ran continuously through Main Street to 16th Street and beyond. 

“We had a dream of what we could do here — to bring back a sense of downtown like it was a 100 years before that time,” Lorenzi reflected. 

He said a group of investors were supported by the city’s redevelopment program, along with the City Council. Bob Hart Square — named after a former city leader — was inspired in part by a similar public space in Old Town San Jose that featured a plaza lined by a restaurant and shops. 

Merced’s square evolved with park space, young shade trees and palms, and a two-story building that housed a restaurant, Chianti’s, and the Sidebar, as well as upstairs office space.

The concept still exists today with Five Ten Bistro, and its own sidebar, and office tenants upstairs. 

Fast forward to after the millennium, and according to the mayor, the city started to conduct more studies, in 2005 and 2010, on how to revitalize the downtown, including expanding Bob Hart Square. Later, Serratto and Councilman Kevin Blake, took the initiative to act on the planning and push for some of the projects to be initiated. It appeared everybody was in agreement that the square expansion was a much-needed aspect of the revitalization. As part of a Council committee, Serratto and Blake toured several downtowns throughout the Central Valley to gather ideas and insight. The two became so connected to the effort that they joked they would rename the square to “Bro-mance Plaza.”

“It’s exciting,” the mayor told the Times. “It’s exciting to have a vision of what the city could be, and then to see it materialize. It’s a big thing.”

For Lorenzi, Bob Hart Square is a grand project that has been 40 years in the making. His family is still invested in the square and downtown as a whole. 

“I think this new expansion is going to be great,” Lorenzi said enthusiastically. “It’s going to bring more people to our downtown area to enjoy the shops, and the restaurants, and the events — hopefully with live music and other entertainment.”