Filling Up the Space-

New Building Downtown Will Complete Property Across from City Hall

The new office under construction on West Eighteenth Street in downtown Merced. Photo: Steve Newvine

Before a grader can start clearing the property, before concrete can be poured, a lot of work goes into creating a unique cluster of buildings.

Another new office building is under construction on a key parcel of land in downtown Merced.

A two-story office that will house the Merced County Employees Retirement Association (MCERA) is expected to open later this year. The office is under construction adjacent to the Merced College Business Resource Center at 630 West Eighteenth Street.  

In recent years, downtown Merced has been the center of activity with new construction of office and retail space.  

The building will eventually house the Merced County Employees Retirement Association (MCERA). Photo: Steve Newvine

This particular block is the star example of that surge. A parking structure and the space where the West America Bank sits helped kick off the renewal of the block. 

The opening of the Merced College Business Resource building in the early part of the last decade added to the activity on the site.

In 2018, the University of California (UC) Merced Downtown Campus Center opened right across the street from City Hall. As noted in a column here six years ago, that opening solidified the link between the City and the UC with that strategic location.  

The new building under construction is in the same block as the UC Merced Downtown Campus Center seen here in a photo from the grand opening of 2018. Photo: Steve Newvine

Together with the rehabilitation of the Tioga building and the opening of the El Capitan Hotel just a short walk away, these projects have fueled new interest in downtown Merced.

This has been seen as a good sign by visitors to the City, the elected leaders, and the citizens who have lived here for years.  

Each new construction brings more workers downtown. Those employees generate economic activity in restaurants and retail establishments.

The Merced County Employees Retirement Association's new office will be next door to the Merced College Downtown Business Resource Center 

“Yes it will,” said Merced Mayor Matthew Serratto acknowledging the positive impact of this project. “(We) need more people down there.”

Downtown Merced suffered a hit last summer with the sudden closing of the Bitwise facility. But with new projects in the pipeline, there is cause for optimism.  

The area has seen more new construction than in any other time in recent history.

Little by little, the space is filling up.

Steve Newvine marks his twentieth year living in California, spending eighteen years in Merced.

His new book Rocket Reporter, looks back at his career as a television news reporter covering the first three space shuttle launches in the early 1980s. The book is available at ROCKET REPORTER (lulu.com)