Change coming to South Palm Springs
Plans are moving forward to tear down the old Rock Garden restaurant in Palm Springs.
Our cameras caught crews cleaning up the rundown property Wednesday afternoon. It’s the beginning of some major changes on the south side of Palm Springs.
The area of South Palm Springs near Palm Canyon Drive and Mesquite Avenue sat empty for quite awhile.
“It’s kind of a dead zone yeah, I think anything that goes up in there would be good,” said frequent visitor Lauren Ginocchio.
On the west side is the old Magruder car dealership and the Rock Garden. Many transients call the properties home.
“People drive by this all the time, they see it every day, it’s on the main highway. It was obvious to me that something must be done,” said neighborhood advocate Jonathan Freeman. “Somehow it has slipped by the radar of the people who can do something about it.”
The city of Palm Springs says not only is it on their radar, it’s actively working to get both properties demolished.
“It’s not forgotten, it’s not forgotten at all,” said Palm Springs Director of Economic Development John Raymond.
The owners of the Rock Garden property boarded up the building last weekend and began to clean up the surrounding property. Raymond tells us, heavy cleanup is expected to begin next week with tribal approval.
“Really in the next couple of months hopefully we will see that building come down,” said Raymond.
The Magruderproperty, also located on tribal land, the city wants to pay to demolish it.
“It’s actually in probate, and we are dealing with the potential owners and working with their attorney and they are inclined to accept our offer, but they haven’t decided yet,” said Raymond.
Right across the street from both properties, a fence has just gone up to start construction on a new multimillion dollar development.
It’s called the Cameron Center, 11 acres of residential and commercial space. It was approved nearly 10 years ago but is just now getting off the ground.
“It will bring more vitality and more connectedness to South Palm Springs, which has been disconnected from the center of the city, but more needs to be done. There is still other derelict buildings on this stretch of road,” said Freeman.
