Major Change is Coming to Downtown Lancaster, CA

Lancaster, California is a city preparing for change. City planners have outlined major renovations for the downtown area of this Antelope Valley city which include a parcade on Lancaster Boulevard as well as a new building for the local Lancaster Museum and Art Gallery.

The overhaul and renewal of downtown Lancaster has already begun. In 2009, the Lofts Gallery opened in the lobby of the Artists Lofts Apartments in downtown Lancaster. The Lofts is designed as an artist enclave to both house and showcase artists in an affordable living space.

Though the rental rates didn't turn out to be especially affordable - coming in around 1,000 per month - the gallery has been an instant success and provides a valuable counterpart to the Lancaster Museum and Art Gallery (LM/AG) as the museum gears up for its own changes.

The Loft Apartments represent the first of a very intentional and purpose-driven renewal of downtown Lancaster. The city wants to transform the downtown area from a somewhat quaint row of independent shops and restaurants into an open-air, well-defined commerce space.

Bringing in artists and galleries will help to ensure the cultural life of the renewed section of the city and will serve to dovetail nicely with other artistically oriented set-piece in the renovations - the new museum building.

The Lancaster Museum and Art Gallery is set to move into a new, modern building sometime in 2011, on Lancaster Boulevard.

Currently the museum makes its home in a non-descript municipal building shared with the Antelope Valley Union High School District - an odd pairing that does little good for either entity.

With a new location on "The Boulevard", the museum will be better positioned to play a larger part in the city life of Lancaster and will stand just a few short blocks from the Lancaster Performing Arts Center.

The LPAC, LM/AG, and Lofts Gallery will form the artistic core of the renewed downtown Lancaster.

In addition to the arts, the city plans to completely change the actual boulevard, placing a grass arcade along the center of the street. The idea is to create a space for events and everyday pedestrians and make the downtown area a very walk-able place.

The whole concept and renovation project is geared toward construing Lancaster's downtown as a tourist friendly, boutique-and-arts oriented cultural haven. Think Ojai. Think Carmel-by-the-Sea.

It is a forward looking project whose virtues are easily recognizable.