Everyone knows that Palermo is one of the best long-term buys in Palm Springs because the neighboring area is on the verge of being reborn. The College of the Desert has committed $40 million to develop the first phase of its new West Valley Campus, just up Indian Canyon from Palermo. The first phase will have 50,000 square feet of classrooms, offices and labs. The other three phases include more than 250,000 in square footage, including such facilities as a performing arts center. Construction could start in 2012. The new green campus will serve 20,000 full-time and part-time students. COD also is looking to offer four-year programs in partnership with another institution. A new "Sunrise Parkway" road going from Indian Canyon to Hwy. 111 is planned as part of Phase 1. Also part of the first phase is "creating a gateway to the city" and "establishing a presence on North Indian Canyon Drive." The city expects major retail and other development once the campus is underway, with more services like better mass transit to come. The college will have a "transit hub" with a modern design. (By the way, the city and county also are using $20 million federal recovery money on design and construction for the Indian Canyon Drive and Interstate 10 interchange improvement project. A motel and other restaurants already have been approved for up there.)
Here's part of a story in this morning's paper on the college's plans: The Palm Springs City Council voted 3-0 tonight to spend more than $2.1 million to purchase 119 acres in North Palm Springs for the College of the Desert's West Valley Campus, which will provide job training programs. Ground is expected to be broken for the campus on the northwest corner of Tramview Road and Indian Canyon Drive in 2012, with classes planned to begin in the fall of 2014, according to Amy Blaisdell, Palm Springs' communications director. The campus will be integrated with existing recreational resources at the James O. Jessie Desert Highland Unity Center. It will feature a 70-acre "green park," focusing on sustainable energy system and facilities for green and clean technology research, development, training and education, Blaisdell said. City officials hope the campus will become the home of the proposed Coachella Valley iHub, a state-funded program meant to be an incubator for creating green companies and jobs in the region. College officials hope the new campus will serve more than 20,000 full- and part-time students in hospitality and culinary arts, film, media and allied health, Blaisdell said. "The city of Palm Springs is tremendously excited about our partnership with the College of the Desert in bringing this much needed new campus to our underserved community," Mayor Steve Pougnet said. "The Palm Springs campus will be one of the most green and clean in the country -- and will set the standard when it comes to educating thousands of students for the next generation of green jobs.
Miss Penny Lane says: Palermo and its neighborhood is on the verge of greatness, and now that the out-of-town developer of Palermo is leaving, our lovely community will be in charge of its own destiny with residents finally in control.
16 comments:
Does anyone know of other plans? They had said that the corner lot, kitty-corner from Palermo, at Indian Canyon and San Rafeal was going to be a retail corner. Chris Mill, the PS City Councilman who designed Palermo, was working on it.
His name is Chris Mills - with an S.
Can't wait until it opens!!!
DId anyone hear a rumor that a Target might open off the 10 at Indian Canyon?
The COD plan will be a big boost? How do they have so much money?
I've got my pom poms ready to welcome those students and College of the Desert to Palm Springs! This is great news!
The COD is good news and bad news--as with anything. With development comes more traffic, more noise, more pollution, & more construction stuff. Post-construction all of these actions may or may not result in stable or higher home values--it is a crap shoot--just as the Palermo was a risk back in 2005-07. As you know, Palermo isn't finished and may never be finished. It's all about the economy. And the COD is just as dependent on the economy as any new development is. Time (and the economy) will tell if it ever gets built. Things could get better, but they could also get worse. Politically, Palm Springs would be wise to keep the small town feel throughout its neighborhoods and surrounding 'burbs--otherwise how will it be different from L.A., San Diego, etc., with overdevelopment which results in endless sprawl, monumental pollution, et al and nothing more than that to show for it! The balance between growth and too much growth, isn't easy, but it is always best to "dance with the one that brung 'ya." PS is unique in Southern California. I marvel at its amazing charm, kind folks and accessibility to medical care, shopping and entertainments--both indoor and outdoor. It is a special place. Too much growth will destroy that and the robust tourism--the core of the PS economy--will diminish.
I agree with some of the above but in the case of COD, the money is there for the first phase. We valley-wide voted for a big bond measure to pay for it. It's happening.
But remember...bonds are loans, loans are based on credit and credit is based on how well the economy is doing and whether or not a lending institution (investment bank) is willing to invest in Palm Springs. How good is Palm Spring's credit? If you were an investment bank, would you loan Palm Springs money? What economic signs in this town indicate strong future growth worthy of investment?
There's no indication the bonds can't be sold. Just the opposite. The bond measure was a valley wide vote and the college's credit was no problem because the people valley-wide voted to pay for it.
Yes, bonds will hopefully be sold, but buyers must have full assurance that they will get their principal back with interest! Municipal bonds, issued by cities, counties, states, etc., have been going into default all across the country due to the recession. Once considered a safe investment and tax friendly, municipal, general obligation bonds are now under pressure, because local economies are under pressure because of the recession. Voters can vote and so can investors. If an investor will not buy a municipal bond issue because of a city's credit rating or their perception that a municipality has slow or no growth in the immediate future, it does not matter that voters have approved the action.
Yea, I guess the whole system of bonding could just fall apart across the country but then we'd have bigger problems. COD credit rating means there's no problem selling them and once done, the money is there regardless of repayment.
The safety net for bond investors is INSURANCE. Often,municipal bonds will carry insurance so that in event the city can't make the principal and interest payments on time, the insurance company will make timely payments until the city can resume doing so. The other safety valve for muni bond investors is that municipalities have taxing authority--of course, this is not a very pleasant alternative, but the city can raise needed money to make bond payments by raising taxes, e.g., sales tax, property taxes, etc. Muni bond investors in the COD project should check to see if bonds will be insured. Usually, the bond rating reflects the insurance status, e.g., triple AAA rated bonds probably have insurance. Of course, as we've seen with AIG, insurance companies can also default and so can investment banks whose sole business is bonds...remember Lehman Bros., or does anyone remember Bear, Stearnes???
Colleges are non profit organizations with endowments. They are the one industry that can expand and take advantage of growing at these times due to no taxes and recovery dollars. No matter what it's 2 years to break ground and another 2 years for phase 1. The rest is all long term but good for the city and COD for thinking forward. We are headed into a new economy and a green industry school is exactly the right way to head. During construction, everyone will want to live at Palermo and if it turns into a dormitory we can all rent and move on to the next big thing!
College of the Desert is one of 110 California State funded community colleges throughout the state. While there may some private monies that go to some community colleges, over 95% of COD's funding comes from taxpayers either thru state allocations or local/municipal allocations, e.g., from Palm Springs, Indio, Palm Desert, etc. The idea of a green training institution, producing skilled and technical workers for a green economy is an outstanding idea, and I pray for its success--I've just been blogging about the economic realities of such an undertaking and the possibility that the project may not come to fruition AND that it may NOT necessarily be a bad thing, if it doesn't come to pass. I'm a bit jealous of and hopeful that Palm Springs remains--even the midst of growth--unique, small and charming.
I'm excited about the possibility of IMPROVED bus service. The Sunline will have to get better to served the students and workers, and we should benefit from this.
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