Desert Jewel El Paseo Due for a Polishing
El Paseo Drive, the tony shopping district that lies just east of Palm Springs, Calif., is getting a makeover.
The city of Palm Desert, Calif., has approved initial plans to redevelop El Paseo with enhanced signage, lighting, landscaping and sidewalk treatments. City officials will first study the costs involved, estimated to be at least $5 million. They said work will take four years, with one year of design and planning. Construction will be done primarily during the summer to lessen the impact on retail stores and restaurants, which rely on tourist-driven business during the winter months.
The street is home to retailers including Tiffany & Co. and Saks Fifth Avenue as well as several dozen boutiques and art galleries. In recent years, Palm Desert officials have become concerned that El Paseo might be losing some of its edge to new competitors that have set up shop in the desert, so some modernization was due. Some retailers agreed.
“Some of the [building owners] have done some remodeling recently, but there are some areas which can certainly benefit,” said Cara Cohn of She She, a 2-year-old contemporary-clothing boutique at 73-199 El Paseo Drive.
The improvements should keep El Paseo polished for the next 20 to 30 years, said the city’s redevelopment manager, Lauri Aylai–an, who added that retail sales along the street reap about $2 million in annual tax revenue for the city.
“The goals are twofold: to improve and extend the life of the infrastructure and to upgrade the aesthetics and stay competitive,” said Aylaian.
El Paseo was built in the early 1950s by real estate developer Cliff Henderson, who drew inspiration from Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles as well as from the Champs-Elyseacute;es. —Robert McAllister
