There is a dynamic renaissance of commercial and residential redevelopment gradually transforming upper Voltaire Street in Point Loma.
\nThe Upper Voltaire Street corridor is a neighborhood commercial district extending from Point Loma High School to Ocean Beach.
\nNew merchants are relocating to this increasingly attractive section of the Peninsula. Also in the works are much-needed residential projects, as well as well-timed infrastructure improvements.
\nTwo new eateries \u2014 Car\u2019s Jars and Royale \u2014 recently moved into the corridor.
\nNew apartment and condominium projects are on the way. One, tentatively named Upper Voltaire, is under construction and another, tentatively named Nimitz Crossing, is in final design.
\nAnd major infrastructure projects, such as Voltaire bridge improvements over Nimitz, and Wabaska Drive feeder street being redesigned to make it more bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly, are also in the pipeline.
\nIt\u2019s all good, said Point Loma insurance agent Matt Kalla, who sits on the board of Ocean Beach MainStreet Association.
\n“We have created a committee called the North OB Committee. Our hope is to gain the interests of the business owners and property owners by making it a mission to improve the Voltaire Street corridor,” said Kalla. “This includes the area from Voltaire Street and W. Point Loma Boulevard all the way to Chatsworth Boulevard, and the arms in between.”
\nKalla said redevelopment was necessary.
\n“This is a much-welcomed need to clean up the corridor and make it a viable area to do business,” he said. “We just need people to communicate what their concerns are, and address them as a whole community. The renaissance will ultimately help the property values, make it safer for families to walk the streets and provide an enhanced business corridor.”
\nClark Anthony, president of the Point Loma Association, also weighed-in on Upper Voltaire\u2019s transformation.
\n“Voltaire Street is a natural link between Point Loma and Ocean Beach,”\u00a0Anthony said. “The city\u2019s upcoming construction on the Voltaire bridge has inspired volunteers to suggest additional refinements to the area, like acorn-style street lamps. New mixed-use projects in the area \u2013 UpperVoltaire and Nimitz Crossing \u2013 are upgrading housing and shopping opportunities. It\u2019s great these developers and other businesses are committing dollars toward the additional improvements proposed by the community. We hope persistence pays off, and the spirit of cooperation will create a walkable, inviting area.”
\nAbout four years ago, Carly McHenry and her family began a salad-in-a-Mason-jar home-delivery business. Car\u2019s Jars now inhabits an Upper Voltaire storefront. Carly\u2019s mother, Nancy, spoke glowingly of the ongoing Voltaire renaissance.\u00a0
\n“It\u2019s cleaned [things] up a lot,” Nancy McHenry said. “The merchants in the area are all pulling together, and the area is really looking a lot better, not like it used to be. It\u2019s exciting.”
\nNancy McHenry pointed out her daughter, Carly, began with a home-based business selling 40 jars of salad a week. “I believe we\u2019re up to about 600 jars a week, including catering,” said Nancy McHenry, noting a build-a-salad component may soon be added to the burgeoning business.
\nNancy McHenry pointed out revitalization in the Upper Voltaire corridor is “really paying off and it is inspiring in the amount of [economic] diversifying that is going on.” Among the many retail changes\u00a0happening along the Voltaire corridor:
\nTo the Point Cafe & Eatery:\u00a0New owners Simone and Cecilia Scurzoni from Northern Italy have taken over and added new menu items\/touches to the 4161 Voltaire St. restaurant.
\nRoyale:\u00a0The new restaurant at 4204 Voltaire St. is now open evenings and all-day weekends for burgers and cocktails.
\nPet grooming:\u00a0Dr. Gary Rose\u2019s animal-care operation is in the two-story building. The old one-story building has been refurbished for pet grooming.
\nSunshine Liquor (relocation):\u00a0Spokesman Jason Greminger says they are addressing tenant improvements and exterior upgrades that were conditions of the building permit in its new Upper Voltaire location.
\nPetals by Katie:\u00a0Florist Katie Byrnes is going with the flow of changes on Upper Voltaire, adding weddings and special events to her flower mix.
\nVoltaire Corridor infrastructure and residential changes include:
\nVoltaire bridge overhaul:\u00a0The landmark Voltaire bridge over Nimitz is about to get a 75-year overhaul. Corridor merchants are working to make the bridge much more aesthetic adding suspension bridge-style railing and historic street lamps.
\n\u2022\u00a0Wabaska Drive:\u00a0This feeder street was redesigned to make it more bicyclist- and pedestrian-friendly with diagonal parking put in place to add more parking spaces.
\nUpper Voltaire mixed-use: Kien Truong has plans for mixed-use at street level with residential below next to the Reunion Pub at 2205 Mendocinio Blvd. The redevelopment project will be reaching the Peninsula Community Planning Board soon after a year of tweaking by the city.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There is a dynamic renaissance of commercial and residential redevelopment gradually transforming upper Voltaire Street in Point Loma. The Upper Voltaire Street corridor is a neighborhood commercial district extending from Point Loma High School to Ocean Beach. New merchants are relocating to this increasingly attractive section of the Peninsula. Also in the works are much-needed […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":267005,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11561","_seopress_titles_title":"Upgrades ongoing for Upper Voltaire Street corridor","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11551,11561],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-267004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-peninsula-beacon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267004\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}