Santa Maria Growing Away From Downtown
Santa Maria is seeing somewhat of a boom in commercial and retail development and some think it will lead to the creation of a new downtown or “city center” on the south side of the city.
Betteravia Road has become ground zero for much of the larger projects expected to be built in the coming years, a long way away from Main Street in downtown.
When it comes to quality cuts of meat, Woody’s Butcher Block on Main Street in Santa Maria has carved out a good business for itself.
“Everything is of a super premium nature and there’s a lot of people that appreciate that”, says Woody’s owner Tim Woodbury, “things are going well for us actually, January, February, March is always slow for everybody in almost any kind of business but its been good to us and we’re really pleased that this has taken off.”
Woodbury says his location on Main Street has also been good for business.
“Its Main Street, we’re freeway close, it’s a good corridor for us to be in”, Woodbury says. “I don’t think its going to pull people away from us, we’ve become sort of a destination business anyway.”
Santa Maria is poised to break ground on two major commercial, retail and residential projects along Betteravia Road on the south side of the city.
“I think its going to wind up to be that way, that will be the new downtown area”, Woodbury says.
“No I don’t, I actually think they are very different kinds of markets”, says Santa Maria Valley Chamber of Commerce CEO Glenn Morris, “I think what you are going to see at Betteravia is an extension of what’s already there with Crossroads and that will be the national chains, the larger kind of national retailers.”
Glenn Morris says he’s seen other communities thrive with a vibrant downtown and a busy, big-box brand retail center on the outsirts of town.
“They can compliment each other and they don’t really have to compete”, Morris says.
Morris says the wildcard in the future of downtown is the Town Center Mall with much depending on the sale of the shopping center and new ownership.
“Downtown Santa Maria will develop its own kind of vibe and I think you will see over time its going to end up being more of the boutique kinds of retail”, Tim Woodbury says, “I think you will see more office use downtown, people coming downtown to work, maybe more so than to shop and hopefully you will see it become more of an entertainment district as well.”
Next week marks the start of a new Santa Maria Farmers Market in downtown in the Town Center West shopping center on Friday night that will include live music and entertainment for all ages.
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Note: There was a reference to Lompoc Valley Medical Center in a previous version of this story that was incorrect and completely unrelated to this story. We have since removed it, and apologize for the error and the inconvenience it caused the Lompoc Valley Medical Center.
