|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The Pleasanton Weekly, Livermore Vine and DanvilleSanRamon.com are embarking on a cover story series in 2025 examining the downtowns throughout the Tri-Valley. Our project debuts this week with reporter Jude Strzemp’s feature on downtown Livermore.
Afternoon visitors to downtown Livermore dined at long-time staple First Street Alehouse. (Photo by Jude Strzemp) 
The Blacksmith Square expansion and the future L Street Parking Garage stand out as upcoming features of downtown Livermore. (Photo by Jude Strzemp) 
The Blacksmith Square expansion is expected to be completed this winter. Meanwhile, stores are open at the square. (Photo by Jude Strzemp) 
The L Street Parking Garage is expected for completion this fall. (Image courtesy city of Livermore) 
Rending of Flagpole Plaza shows improvements expected for completion during late summer. (Image courtesy city of Livermore) 
Adam Feidy, general manager of First Street Alehouse and LDI treasurer, said business is still good through construction downtown. (Photo by Jude Strzemp) 
Panama Bay Coffee Co. manager, Samuel Palmer and a customer catch up on recent happenings. (Photo by Jude Strzemp) 
The I Street Parking Garage downtown was completed July 2022. (Courtesy city of Livermore) 
Legacy at Livermore Apartments are a recent addition to downtown Livermore. (Photo by Jude Strzemp) 
The Bankhead Theater attracts 80,000 to 90,000 people annually to downtown Livermore. (Photo by Jude Strzemp) 
Currently stalled amid legal challenges, a 130-unit affordable housing project is set to be developed by Eden Housing at the southeast corner of Railroad Avenue and L Street. (Image courtesy city of Livermore) 
At the intersection of First Street and S O Street, Vine Cinema & Alehouse owner Kenny Way has observed a lack of passersby in the area. (Photo by Jude Strzemp)
On a sunny Friday afternoon, groups of people chat at wiry tables outside Panama Bay Coffee in downtown Livermore.
Across the road, longstanding gastropub First Street Alehouse appears to be another popular destination as customers dine in its outdoor seating area.
Past the hustle and bustle of people on First Street is a gravel lot serving as a makeshift parking area while the new L Street garage is built from the ground up.
Despite the close proximity, nearby construction seems not to affect the peace of a late-afternoon visit to downtown.
Instead, business owners and leadership of local organizations like Visit Tri-Valley commend the development as a positive sign for downtown Livermore.
A different story emerges west of the intersection of First Street and South L Street, where foot traffic seems to peter out. Not just visible to a visitor’s eye, business owners at longtime favorites like Donut Wheel and Vine Cinema & Alehouse have observed a lack of passersby. Further marking the silence on that side of First Street is unoccupied retail space under a new luxury apartment complex, still shiny and new.
Despite the split between lively and sleepy, even a single criticism of the downtown was a needle in a haystack among patrons and business owners.
“For me, everything comes down to quality of life,” Livermore Mayor John Marchand told Livermore Vine. “Our downtown is the heart of our community — a place where people come together … and our downtown stands as a model for the region.”
While the main draw of downtown is First Street, the downtown is actually bordered at its north by the railroad tracks — except for a section of blocks that pop out onto Chestnut Street — south at approximately Fourth Street, west by Murrieta Boulevard and east by approximately Old First Street.
Strung throughout downtown are restaurants, bars, cafes, markets, retail shops, two movie theaters, the Bankhead Theater, salons, fitness centers, art studios and a bowling alley as well as historical sites and homes.
But the walkability and appeal of the area hasn’t always been as it is today.
In 2004, then-city council adopted the Downtown Specific Plan dictating land-use policies and development standards for the heart of Livermore, following years of discussion. The plan set out to make downtown a pedestrian-friendly area with commerce and entertainment alongside offices and housing.
Taking Highway 84 off current-day First Street was a monumental step of the plan, city spokesperson Stephanie Egidio said, referring to a time when First Street was also the state highway running through downtown and creating cut-through commute traffic.
“Even for most residents, the downtown was a place to pass through, not a destination,” according the city’s website.
In its planning, the city addressed the community’s preference to push commute traffic back to the freeway, which resulted in changes to First Street that aimed to significantly slow down traffic and reclaim downtown as an active and pedestrian-friendly destination for residents and visitors.
‘Please excuse our dust‘
In recent years, the downtown area has grown to include several new amenities including the I Street Parking Garage, Stockmen’s Park, Legacy at Livermore Apartments and Livermorium Plaza.
Livermore has the best downtown in the Tri-Valley, resident Morgan Finley King proudly told Livermore Vine.
“Everything we’ve gained is great,” King added. “It’s the most pedestrian-friendly of the downtowns.”
For Livermore resident Christi Graham, the draws of downtown are its restaurants, book store, farmers market and the Lizzie Oliver Fountain at the intersection of First Street and South Livermore Avenue.
The downtown is a comfortable place to visit, Graham said, sitting at the fountain with her young daughter. “I did not not grow up in a town that had a downtown, I grew up in Fremont, so it’s really nice to have a place to just walk around,” she added.
Visible from the fountain in one direction, renovations to Flagpole Plaza were underway and in the other, an expansion to Blacksmith Square and construction of L Street Parking Garage.
The Flagpole Plaza, located at the intersection of South Livermore Avenue and First Street, is expected to reopen at the end of summer. The remodel includes new stamped concrete walkways and landscaping, upgraded lighting, installation of advanced security cameras and improved accessibility.
With these renovations, the city intends on restoring the public gathering space to vibrancy, Egidio said.
Just a block away at Blacksmith Square, developer Red Bear Property Management, Inc. — founded by Michael and Joe Madden, the sons of the late football and entertainment legend and businessman John Madden — is constructing three new buildings with over 13,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space.
Two of the buildings are expected for completion in July and the third is expected in winter, according to project manager Eric “Otis” Nostrand. Meanwhile, the current shops at Blacksmith Square are fully operational including Swirl On the Square, Tap 25 and Sweet Hope Naturals.
The L Street Parking Garage is expected to open to the public this fall, according to city officials. The garage will add 452 parking spaces to the downtown, including spots for ADA, electric vehicles and bicycles. An additional 40 spaces will be available as surface parking next to the garage.
The new garage is set to join the Livermore Valley Center parking structure and recently completed I Street Parking Garage at 175 North I St., which opened in summer 2022.
Parking is consistently a top concern for Livermore residents, based on surveys by Livermore Downtown Inc., a 501(c)3 nonprofit that supports the economic health and vitality of the city’s downtown, said Adam Feidy, general manager of First Street Alehouse and LDI treasurer.
To Livermore Valley Arts CEO Chris Carter, all of the ongoing construction signals a healthy downtown.
“I like seeing construction,” Carter told Livermore Vine. “People are investing in this area really heavily because they believe in the future of it, and I think that’s a positive sign.”
Patrons don’t seem to mind the construction either as it hasn’t slowed business for the Bankhead Theater, according to Carter.
“We’re probably the healthiest we’ve ever been, historically,” Carter said. “We’re still looking to grow and we’re continuing to expand what we’re able to do and add more programs as we can.”
In a mutual relationship with the downtown, the Bankhead Theater is one of the key elements to Livermore tourism, Carter explained.
Every year the performing arts theater operated by LVA brings 80,000 to 90,000 people to the downtown area, Carter said. These visitors uplift the economic vitality of the city.
Feidy said business at First Street Alehouse has also continued to do well despite construction, although it doesn’t come without some drawbacks. “There are general growing pains with construction. There’s noise disruption, dust,” he said.
Key players in neighboring communities have praised Livermore downtown’s progress.
For Michael Madden, who is also a former Pleasanton Downtown Association president, the L Street garage marks a positive investment by Livermore in its downtown.
“When I started doing business down there, I was on the PDA board and my PDA board members laughed at me,” Madden said of his experience decades ago during a Pleasanton City Council meeting in January. “Now you go down there – they’ve got parks, they’ve got fountains, they’ve got people, they’ve got infrastructure.”
At that same Pleasanton meeting, Bruce Torquemada — owner of 11 buildings in downtown Pleasanton — went as far to say Livermore is a more lively place than the center of his hometown.
“It’s better. It’s easier. It’s more vibrant,” Torquemada said of doing business in Livermore compared to Pleasanton. “My own kids go to Livermore before they go to Pleasanton to do things.”
Just like his children, the rest of the public seems to have gravitated toward Livermore and San Ramon as opposed to Pleasanton over the past 25 years, Torquemada said.
In addition to its efforts over the years to become pedestrian-friendly, the Livermore downtown is also set to become more accessible by public transportation with the forthcoming addition of a station for Valley Link, a 42-mile commuter light-rail project planned to extend from the Central Valley to Tri-Valley.
“With the addition of new housing, ongoing construction and the upcoming Valley Link connection at Isabel Station, the city is making bold, forward-thinking investments in its future,” Visit Tri-Valley President and CEO Tracy Farhad said.
Projects on the horizon
Throughout downtown, boards with project renderings promise passersby the future of downtown Livermore. On view are renderings of a future Downtown Boutique Hotel, SPARC TheaterLab, Quest Science Center and a 130-unit affordable housing project set to be developed by Eden Housing.
The city expects construction to start on the hotel in 2026, though there were no timelines to share for Quest or SPARC.
A particular sticking point for many is the Eden Housing project, planned for the southeast corner of Railroad Avenue and L Street and intended to provide housing to low-income families and the local workforce. Also contemplated in the project is construction of and improvements to Veterans Park.
The housing project received approval from the Livermore City Council in May 2021, but work has yet to begin due to a slew of legal challenges. Oppositional groups including Save Livermore Downtown and Move Eden Housing — which have many of the same core members — suggest relocating the project from downtown Livermore.
Though longtime supporters of the development, like LDI, are ready for the project to begin, according to Jeremy Troupe-Masi, a member of the LDI Board of Directors and owner of JTM In The Kitchen.
He also extended his support on a personal level. “Having adequate housing supply is a necessary infrastructure for hospitality to survive,” Troupe-Masi said. “Otherwise, those people can’t afford to live here.”
A slump on the west side of First Street
Outside the core of downtown, where couples walk the streets and families dine outside restaurants, First Street grows quiet.
The breaking point appears at the intersection of First and South L streets.
Heading west, ground-level windows of the Legacy at Livermore are tacked with signage stating “Retail Space Available”. Across the street, a “For Lease” board sits in a window.
The lack of foot traffic is apparent to Savanna Taing, co-owner of Donut Wheel, located at the corner of First and South L.
Taing said a lot of focus is placed on the area from South L Street to the Livermore 13 Cinema at the intersection of First and Maple streets. It seems that people living nearby don’t dine out very much.
“I do wish there were more locals coming to support local businesses,” Taing added.
Also, amid the influx of restaurants and dessert businesses downtown in recent decades, Donut Wheel — which opened in the 1960s — has seen a slowing of business, Taing said.
Kenny Way, owner of the Vine Cinema & Alehouse, has also noticed a lack of foot traffic on the far west side of First Street but said he wouldn’t expect additional passersby to mean more business for the theater.
“Almost all of our patrons know they are coming to a movie in advance, so it is never a spur of the moment decision that having high foot traffic would benefit,” Way said of the Vine Cinema at the western side of First Street.
Eastward, Troupe-Masi noted a similar lack of foot traffic.
Troupe-Masi said, on Old First Street, “We have wonderful businesses over there that suffer that same problem.”
However, John’s Char-Burger, longtime staple on Old First Street, appeared exceptionally busy as customers flowed in and out of the restaurant on a Thursday evening.
Businesses come and go
Not only is the foot traffic disparate across First Street, but downtown Livermore saw a rise in business turnover last fiscal year, according to data recently released by LDI.
According to the LDI 2023-24 annual report, 16 businesses closed and the same number opened in the downtown area through the fiscal year, a striking rate of more than one closure per month.
Among those to shutter were Buffalo Wild Wings in July 2023, Murphy’s Paw and Beer Baron in August 2023, Pennyweight Craft Brewing in September 2023 and Bay Area BB Islands in January 2024 as well as Miel de Agave Azul, Fat Chance Food Hall and Roya Afghan Cuisine in March 2024.
Of the shutdowns during the 2023-24 fiscal year, only two were located beyond the bounds of the two cinemas on First Street, according to the report.
Some businesses come and go rather quickly, said Sherri Souza, president and CEO of the Livermore Valley Chamber of Commerce — a 501(c)6 which offers education, marketing tools and networking opportunities to businesses in the city.
“Maybe that happens, not because we don’t have economic vitality in the downtown area, but maybe some of these businesses haven’t considered the cost of doing business,” Souza told Livermore Vine.
She added, “I’m not quite sure, I can’t point my finger and pinpoint why some of these businesses come and go so fast in the downtown area. The only thing that I can think of is that maybe they weren’t well prepared enough or didn’t have previous experience to sustain themselves for a longer amount of time.”
Transitions at Livermore Downtown Inc.
In addition to the physical changes to Livermore, LDI is also undergoing a transition in leadership with a new executive director set to take the reins this month following the departure of Ruby Lopez-Villarreal
Troupe-Masi said the vision for LDI still requires a unified conversation, set for the coming weeks, including incoming Executive Director Kara Klotchman.
“We know we were due for the next version of whatever this organization is to become,” Troupe Masi said.
Through the transition, one of the top priorities for LDI is addressing business turn-over and acclimating the eastern and western sides of downtown into the general buzz of downtown, Troupe-Masi said.
While the lighter foot traffic westward of South L Street and along Old First Street is on LDI’s radar, Troupe-Masi said, revitalization from cinema to cinema and acclimation of Old First Street is stalled amid other construction downtown.
“Until some of the projects in the heart of downtown Livermore are completed, it’s a tremendous challenge relative to operational bandwidth to see the rest of the picture come to fruition as well,” Troupe-Masi said.
West of South L Street along First has experienced stunted growth, in part because of oppositional groups within Livermore, Troupe-Masi said.
Despite the challenges LDI faces with downtown, business owners have complimented the organization’s work.
“I feel nothing but supported by the city and LDI,” said Alyssa Camunez, owner of Good Chance Boutique on First Street.
Through the closure of her first retail store at Blacksmith Square called Vault California summer 2022 due to low foot traffic, her customers followed her to Good Chance Boutique, she said.
“The people who live in this town are just so supportive of small business and doing what it takes to keep us here,” Camunez said. “The customers and community is a big reason why I do this.”
LDI focuses on providing the same level of support to all of the downtown business community.
“Our stakeholders, our members, our partners are all equal in the benefits that they receive specifically from LDI as an organization,” Troupe-Masi explained.
As for business owners who are non-English language speakers, LDI sees a need for improving contact with these groups.
“The consistency in giving access to those who speak languages outside of English is definitely where there would be room to grow, so that they always know who, when and where to be or talk to,” Troupe-Masi said.
The language barrier, as well as financial and time investment challenges are among the reasons the Donut Wheel is not currently part of LDI.
Regarding her parents’ awareness of LDI, Taing said, “They don’t know what it’s for, I don’t think, because they don’t really speak English.”
Nevertheless, Taing complimented the LDI team and their efforts downtown.
As for the future of LDI and its plans for supporting downtown businesses, Klotchman is set to take the helm next Monday.
“You’re always kind of sad to see someone that you’ve been working with go,” Feidy said of Lopez-Villarreal’s departure. “But I’m really excited for who we have coming on. I’m excited about the future of the organization,” he added.
Klotchman previously worked with LDI from 2012 to 2018 and currently serves as executive director of the Downtown Martinez & Co. Main Street Program, where she has led transformative initiatives that strengthened local businesses and revitalized downtown spaces.
“It’s really hard knowing what I’m walking into, without having started, and where my direction is going to go,” Klotchman told Livermore Vine. “I’m sure I’ll be pulled in multiple different directions, but that’s something that I’m very used to — it’s my job here in Martinez.”
During the first few weeks to months of her leadership, she intends to contact the business owners of downtown Livermore to gauge their thoughts on construction projects, general feelings about downtown, foot traffic as well as their thoughts on LDI and the services offered.
Otherwise, Klotchman said she is a proponent of recruiting businesses to fill building vacancies as well as marketing the downtown and the city at-large as a travel destination. She said LDI may even add an event or two to the calendar or add segments of events that are already successful.
As for potential challenges, she said funding is on her radar. In an attempt to not only sustain the nonprofit, but to grow it, she intends on soliciting new grant funding and sponsorships.
Ultimately, the collective sentiment surrounding downtown Livermore is excitement and enthusiasm for what’s to come.
“In the long-term, there’s a lot of upside in Livermore and the downtown,” Carter said. “I feel like we’re just beginning and there’s a lot of great potential for developing an incredibly vibrant community, especially in regards to the arts and culturally — there’s a lot we have to offer.”
Pleasanton resident, lifelong Democrat eyes 14th Congressional District seatFebruary 23, 2026 8:39 pm