A grand renaissance emerges in Escondido

A strategic and targeted plan around Grand Avenue is in full swing, while a roll rink brings out the masses and public art has become a cornerstone of the revitalization

The “return” of Ups-n-Downs roller skating rink in downtown Escondido has been a hit with residents during the holiday season. Steve Puterski photo

ESCONDIDO — The city is in the midst of a grand renaissance starting with Grand Avenue and injecting life into downtown.

The Grand Avenue Vision Project is well underway to renovate and activate Grand Avenue. In addition, more public art projects are in the works and the soon-to-be completed Palomar Heights housing development will deliver more than 500 residences.

Another recent, yet unexpected, hit has been the “return” of the Ups-n-Downs roller rink at Grand Avenue and Juniper Street. The Escondido Downtown Business Association bought the rink to celebrate Small Business Saturday, but the response has been overwhelming. The rink is open for five more days — today through Sunday and on Dec. 26-27 (see below for hours of operation).

Also, the city celebrated another big win last week when it was announced Round1 Bowling & Arcade will take up residence at the North County Mall.

A ‘grand’ vision

While downtown has been a focus for years for the city, the Grand Avenue plan is more than 10 years in the making. The DBA approached the city in 2015 to address the struggling urban core, according to Carol Rogers, who used to own Stone & Glass and sits on the DBA board, and Alex MacLachlan, who is the president of the DBA.

He said it started when the city began looking at charging for parking in downtown. So, the DBA notified small business owners, who rebelled and killed the plan. So, the organization went to work for a new plan in concert with the city, MacLachian said.

“I didn’t just want us to be a ‘no’ organization, a blockade,” he recalled. “I wanted us to be a constructive organization, so I brought a set of blueprints to this meeting … and it showed the city if we restripe Grand Avenue in diagonal parking, we would gain 100 spaces without redoing any infrastructure.”

The city asked for other ideas and those worked, and then the city began looking at grants if the street were more walkable. Escondido city matched $1.5 million from Transnet taxes, MacLachian said.

The first phase was completed before the pandemic, but the other phases were short on funding. The city applied for federal funding for Phase II and Rep. Scott Peters (D-San Diego) secured $1 million from Congress for the project.