‘Trying to start small’

It’s a mix Kristiann Garrett, co-owner of Devil’s Canyon Brewery at 935 Washington St., and Dave Toole, owner of Toole’s Garage at 1065 Washington St., know well from running their businesses in the zone for the last five and six years, respectively. And it’s a specific sort of formula they are hoping to preserve in forming a business association aimed at identifying and advocating for the needs of business owners there.

“We’ve got a lot of diversity within these three blocks,” said Garrett, who noted first-time visitors to the zone are often surprised to see the diversity of businesses clustered there. “You kind of forget there’s a San Carlos south of Brittan.”

With its fair share of Quonset huts — or semicircular, lightweight structures often made of metal — and other buildings designed for artisans and small-scale manufacturing, the zone can accommodate auto repair and auto body shops as well as machinists and suppliers of building materials like marble and plumbing parts. In recent years, the opening of tasting rooms for wineries and a focus on showrooms and displays inviting pedestrians inside have marked the arrival of more retail-oriented uses in the zone.

‘Clean and safe for visitors’

Toole said events like the zone’s first Industrial Arts Horsepower Car Show in September helped showcase the diversity of the businesses there with some 2,500 visitors coming through the three-block zone in one weekend. Toole said the influx of visitors not only increased awareness of the district among those who hadn’t considered it as a place to shop or hang out, but it also highlighted the need for some basic improvements, namely trash cans, better lighting and sidewalks.

“People had no idea, people still didn’t know where it was,” he said, of speaking to visitors at the fall event. “It really makes me want to make sure it’s clean and safe for visitors.”

Garrett and Toole said it’s not uncommon to see dressers, mattresses and trash dumped on streets near both of their businesses. Though many of the businesses open in the early morning and close in the afternoon, Garrett’s brewery and nearby tasting rooms are often open later in the evening, meaning customers and employees are trying to return to their cars in the dark. Garrett added many of the buildings in the zone are built close to the curb, reducing visibility for cars turning in and out of driveways or streets there.

Though bolstering the street lighting and creating sidewalks for pedestrians are goals of the some 20 businesses Garrett and Toole said have joined the Industrial Arts Business Association they incorporated last year, they said even simple changes, such as increased awareness of trash and dumping in the neighborhood, would be a step in the right direction.

“When our customers come and they have to step over a mattress to get to your business, it’s not great,” said Garrett, adding increased lighting could also make people think twice about dumping and leaving trash near their businesses. “You brighten it up and people aren’t going to think they’re hidden.”

Getting organized

Having worked with Garrett and Toole to discuss ways the city could preserve and foster an industrial arts district, Sara McDowell, chair of the city’s Economic Development Advisory Commission, said she was excited to see them formalize a business association and invite more business owners to provide feedback on ways city officials can support a unique part of the city.

McDowell said plans to establish an industrial arts district had been pegged in the city’s three-year economic development plan adopted in 2016, in part to preserve and bring more attention to the unique composition of businesses, which she added generate a significant portion of the city’s sales tax revenue. She said councilmembers and staff have been deliberate about reaching out to business owners to ensure they are getting their feedback on any changes or improvements considered for the zone, and saw the effort to organize business owners as a boon to future projects considered there, whether they are pedestrian improvements or adding trash cans to intersections.

“It’s something that’s been thought about for quite a while,” she said. “I’m thrilled that the businesses have started to organize.”

‘Trying to start small’

Because many of the lots are small and owned by individual property owners, the zone is not as likely as other sectors to become home to new developments, explained McDowell. But city officials and members of the Industrial Arts Business Association are well aware developments like the new biotech and office buildings as well as hotels are taking shape less than a mile north and could affect the flow of visitors through the area as well as traffic and parking.

Though they are in the midst of planning the second Industrial Arts Horsepower Car Show to be held Sept. 8, Toole and Garrett acknowledged running their own businesses doesn’t leave them with a lot of extra time to dedicate to the business association. But they said they are excited to explore the improvements many business owners agreed they would like to see in the area with city officials and see where that effort takes them in the coming months.

“We’re just trying to start small,” said Toole. “We want to see what we can accomplish at this level.”

anna@smdailyjournal.com

(650) 344-5200 ext. 106