Cyclists Welcome! – Bell Rooms Early Stage Concepts

In early 2017, community members from This Place Matters Redding, Shasta Historical Society, Viva Downtown, Shasta County Arts Council and more voiced the importance they place on preserving historic buildings in downtown Redding, asking Redding Area Bus Authority (RABA) for the Bell Rooms building at the corner of California & Shasta Streets to remain standing, rather than be demolished.

In response, RABA issued a Request for Proposals from community members, to see who if anyone would come forward with a concept for the building. The McConnell Foundation came forward with an adaptive reuse concept. “Adaptive reuse refers to the process of reusing an old site or building for a purpose other than which it was built or designed for” (more here).

Given that this location will be located along the newly-funded Distelhorst to Downtown bicycle path, and given that RABA has a is a transit-oriented vision for the larger parcel over the long-term, The McConnell Foundation proposes a development that would adapt the historic brick structure into a bike-friendly cafe or restaurant, and a new structure to serve as a bike depot which could house a bike share program and would be a launching point for bike tours etc. These two structures could be linked with a gated plaza so that cyclists who are coming off of Redding’s world class trail system at the Sacramento River can head straight into downtown, experience safe bike parking, and a place that is clearly designed to say: cyclists welcome!

Here are some of the conceptual renderings, thanks to Trilogy Architecture: