A new center of attention

BUSINESS OWNER MARK SEAGER said at Monday’s city council meeting that bringing a cafe to downtown Tracy will go a long way to revitalizing 3rd St. Photo / Per Peterson

With Multi-Purpose Center transitioning to a cafe, city leaders turn to Veterans Memorial Center for seniors’ new go-to place

By Per Peterson

A three-phase plan unveiled at Monday’s city council meeting gave some insight to a new landscape in downtown Tracy — one that will include a new cafe and a new home for seniors in town.

In a presentation to the city council, Tracy City Administrator Erik Hansen said the future home of the senior center will be on the second floor of the Veterans Memorial Center. The move will make way for the city-owned Multi-Purpose Center to be transformed into a cafe, which fits into the City’s comprehensive plan designed to make the downtown area more of a destination point. The name of the business has not yet been made public.

“Over the summer, we kind of started courting a daytime cafe or coffee shop — a business that will be open during the day, so it wouldn’t compete with our existing businesses like Bonnie & Clyde’s and The Caboose,” Hansen said. “We showed them around downtown and showed them number of buildings including the Senior Center … and they said, ‘That building speaks to me.’”

The tour of the Senior Center eventually sparked concern among the senior population in Tracy, but Hansen said the City has always maintained it is committed to finding a new home for the Senior Center. The new potential owners also wanted to make sure the seniors were taken care of.

See this week’s Headlight Herald for more on this article.