LAKE ELSINORE CIVIC CENTER AND MASTER PLAN

Lake Elsinore, CA: 2008

This project, for a new Civic Center and downtown master plan for the Riverside County (CA) town of Lake Elsinore, is designed to both strengthen economic development along the existing downtown commercial corridor, and to catalyze and shape its continued growth toward the prime attraction: the lake itself. Rather than considering the Civic Center to be the anchor to this corridor, the former is arranged along a line, in order to extend one side of the downtown frontage all the way to the beach. The sidewalk smoothly separates from the street itself into a boardwalk extending out over the water, recalling the pier that originally stood in the same location. The building strand, meanwhile, bends eastward and transforms in use from Civic Center to a series of privately-developed beachfront townhomes/condominiums. This future-phase construction represents an essential opportunity--through tax increment financing and required mitigation fees and measures--to help the City pay for the new Civic Center (City Hall, Council Chamber, Library, and Post Office) and other public improvements.

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