Is Herald Street Village Just Around the Corner?
I have a little bit of an obsession with Herald Street, on the north side of Chinatown. And it isn’t anything new, I have been thinking about it for almost thirty years. I have written about this three and half block stretch of the city quite a number of times on Sidewalking Victoria. At least two of those articles were about the crosswalk across Government Street. You can read a couple of those articles here and here. As I mention in those articles, in the late 1990s, I used to work at the Herald Street Centre for the Arts, which is now a furniture store. We had some pretty busy nights for the performances, but we were also trying to run a daytime cafe and gallery business that was struggling to get people in the door. I could see plainly what the challenge was; when you went outside, along the length of the street all you could see were parking lots, old building, and car repair places. This was not really a place you would be walking by for a cup of coffee. In the last thirty years everything has changed. For the block of Herald to the east of Government, it is now completely void of any vacant lots, and on the west side there is really just one large one left. More importantly, those parking lots are not just covered in small single storey buildings either, there are a number of multi-storey residential buildings, including the almost complete Spencer Block. There is also the long-term development of the Capital Iron and Matullia Lands which Herald Street will be right in the middle of. Depending on how the Spencer Block and some of the surrounding buildings turn out, I think there is an excellent chance of Herald Street turning into quite the destination street for the area.
To be a true destination shopping and dining street, at least in Victoria, you need three key ingredients: A core identity or unique draw, a broad selection of old and new stores and eateries and a congregation point of some sort. If you look at places like Chinatown or LoJo, they have all of these pieces. As we are seeing Herald Street come together, I can see quite a few of these ingredients coalesce, though it’s success as a unique destination in the minds of Victorians is not assured and so I will discuss a few of the potential risks to it as well.
Despite Victoria’s relatively small size, we have a number of excellent shopping streets. This is something that should be celebrated, supported and protected, because not every city of 400k has the diversity of places to do this kind of sidewalk store-to-store shopping. I am going to be writing an article on those key urban village ingredients I mentioned before from a more expansive perspective soon, for today I will just layout how I think Herald Street has the opportunity to harness these ingredients and become a civic destination.
A Core Identity / Unique Draw
When we think of Chinatown, LoJo, or Government Street (or 700 Block of Fort though it needs some branding beyond Fabulous Fort) we know what they look like, how they feel and what we will find there. I think that with very little work, Herald Street could also have this. There is the somewhat forgotten Design District moniker that could be revived based on the few furniture stores that have survived, there are the food options here with Rabbit Rabbit, End Dive, Jam, Union Pacific Coffee, Herald Street Brewing and Grindstone all in a two block space and that is before anything goes into the new building. There are the amazing old warehouse buildings that have been converted into residential as well. I think that there is definitely a feel to Herald Street that as the new building gets filled out with commercial will become even more clear.
A Good Selection of Stores and Eateries
I think looking at the list I have in the previous section, that the food and drink draw is already there. I will be honest, until I looked at Google Maps to make sure I hadn’t missed anything, I didn’t know that it was already so good. I think it is likely that we will see some more places join the list within the extensive commercial spaces of the Spencer Block.
The current list of stores along these two blocks of Herald Street also has a good selection with Opus Art Supplies; Avenue One, Studio Y Design and Chester-Fields, which are all furniture stores; Ma Yoga Studio; Float House Victoria and many others. Again, I think as we see more people move into the neighbourhood followed by more commercial space get filled, we will see some turn over and the total variety increase and maybe get more defined.
A Congregation Point
Most great city spaces have a place where you can stretch out a bit or at least a place you can identify to meet someone there. In Chinatown you have the Gate of Harmonious Interest; in LoJo you have the entrance to Market Square. Along Herald Street, there is the current crosswalks across Government, or the crosswalk at the entrance to Dragon Alley, though I am not sure either in their current form will provide that function fully. That said, there is still a possibility that across from the entrance to Dragon Alley, that we will see a little park form at some point. You can read my article about that possibility here. If that comes to pass, that will definitely be the place to meet before exploring the shops and cafes along the new Herald Street Urban Village (name to be determined).
I think that we will see the Spencer Block finish over the next few months and hopefully as we come into the fall or early next year, start to see some of the commercial spaces taken over. Given the strong fundamentals of Herald Street, I think we will see it become a thriving urban centre for Victoria over the next five years.
What are your thoughts? Will Herald Street become a destination shopping street over the next couple years as the spaces within the Spencer Block fill out? Or do we need to wait for that final parking lot to be covered at Store Street and Herald? What are elements that you look for in a destination shopping space? Are their elements that I have missed? PLease let me know the answers to all of these questions in the comments!
