Brewery, restaurant add to revitalization momentum

By Roger Phillips

Posted Jan. 8, 2016 at 5:46 PM

STOCKTON — The ground-floor storefronts in downtown’s century-old Belding Building long have sat empty, barren spaces staring vacantly across the street at the courthouse and the county administration building.

But if all goes as planned, a new restaurant will open in one of the spots in a scant three months, and in June it will be followed by downtown’s first craft brewery.

“What great downtown doesn’t have a brewing company?” Cindi Fargo, who heads the Downtown Stockton Alliance, asked rhetorically this week.

The two new businesses — Cast Iron Trading Co. and Channel Brewing Co. — hope to be prescriptions for resuscitating a chronic dead zone that in a more bustling time for downtown Stockton was the 1940s-era home of Hansen & Zinck Druggists.

Perhaps more significant, though, is that when they open, the new businesses will represent a small eastward shift of the type of vibrancy downtown advocates have been hoping will spread naturally away from the waterfront focal point of Stockton’s core.

“The increased interest you’re seeing from entrepreneurs speaks to the excitement and the energy we’re seeing downtown,” said David Garcia of the Ten Space development firm, owner of the Belding Building on the northeast corner of Weber Avenue and San Joaquin Street. “People are really gravitating to what’s happening down here, and I think that’s reflected in the establishment of new restaurants in the core of downtown.”

Downtown Stockton is and never will be mistaken for midtown Manhattan, Chicago’s Loop or Georgetown in Washington, D.C.

But Garcia said Cast Iron and Channel Brewing may not be the only establishments to open their doors in 2016 as downtown Stockton’s after-hours life spreads east. Streets that currently become deserted once the downtown work force heads home may gain new life this year, though Garcia declined to publicly provide details this week.

A partnership fronted by 27-year-old Billy Chaddock of Stockton is behind the Channel Brewing Co. Chaddock and his group stood this week in the corner space at the Belding Building and spoke excitedly about the craft brews they plan to be pouring downtown by the time summer arrives.

“We planted ourselves down here strategically to be a part of what’s going on,” Chaddock said. “I see the momentum of people who want to see downtown Stockton turn around, especially people of our generation who aren’t scared to come downtown.”

Meanwhile, business partners Eric Lee and Tommy Mogan are preparing for Cast Iron’s planned April opening.

“As a kid I always looked at downtown Stockton as a ‘once-was’ place, hearing about the glory days from my aunts and uncles,” the 34-year-old Lee said. “I always appreciated hearing about how popular downtown used to be. I always appreciated the architecture. I’m really excited to be an integral part in the revitalization.”

Many who have sought a downtown rebirth have predicted if it ever occurred it would happen organically. When co-founder Amy Sieffert launched her first Stockmarket for local vendors a year ago, Cast Iron was among the food venues. Cast Iron’s plan to open on its own, Sieffert said, marks the fulfillment of what she hoped Stockmarket ultimately would accomplish.

“We wanted to give people the opportunity to grow and see their dream come to fruition, and that’s exactly what they’re doing,” Sieffert said.

The ultimate catalyst for downtown revival will be an increase in the number of people choosing to live in the city’s core, many observers say. An affordable-housing project at Weber Avenue and California Street is expected to open in the fall, another step advocates hope will point toward the full regeneration of downtown.

Fargo said she is hopeful, and not just because of the correlation she draws between breweries and great downtowns. She said a September tour of downtown by a group of San Francisco entrepreneurs seeking a less-expensive business environment succeeded in sparking interest. Downtown real-estate tours may be conducted in the months ahead, she added.

“What I’ve seen in the past year is people understand this time the private sector is serious,” Fargo said. “They know what they can do in Stockton and it’s happening piece by piece.”

http://www.recordnet.com/article/20160108/NEWS/160109773/101007/A_NEWS