“Courthouse Square is the “town center” of Santa Rosa and is the focal point of downtown. Its landscaped spaces and plaza areas provide for a range of activities, performances, and entertainment right in the heart of downtown.
It attracts business activity and patrons, retail facilities and shoppers, and performers and audiences. It is a distinctive place that residents can take pride in identifying as center of their hometown.”
A reunified Old Courthouse Square, called the "linchpin" to the future of downtown Santa Rosa, moved a step closer as the City Council declared a winner in its contest to redesign the space. The council unanimously named SWA Group of Sausalito the winner, following the recommendation of a seven-member jury assigned to make a selection from five finalists.
Councilwoman Jane Bender, a juror, said the reunified square "will be the back yard, front yard and the entertainment center of our downtown."
The 1.5-acre square was split in half in 1966 and Santa Rosa and Mendocino avenues were connected through its center after the county courthouse that occupied the site was razed because it had been declared earthquake unsafe.
But over the past decade with downtown businesses struggling, calls grew louder to reunify the square to create an atmosphere more welcoming to consumers, tourists and businesses, similar to squares in Healdsburg and Sonoma.
"We want you downtown," Bender said Tuesday, describing the impetus for the design contest. "That is the reason to do this."
Mayor Bob Blanchard called a reunified square the "linchpin" to plans to build more downtown housing, entice a greater variety of stores and make downtown play a key cultural role in the city's future.