Palm Springs moves to protect Tahquitz Plaza development

A new Palm Springs City Council got straight to business Wednesday evening voting unanimously to designate the Tahquitz Plaza office complex a Class 1 Historic site.

The designation is the city’s most prestigious for historic buildings, and protects the vacant 1970’s era office complex from demolition on the 700 block of East Tahquitz Canyon Way, across the street from the movie theaters.

Nexus Development had planned to demo the four buildings.

But preservationists convinced the company to instead rehab the buildings, then lease or sell them.

The city council voted unanimously for the historic designation which will also will carefully control the building’s renovation.

The designation was one of the first pieces of business for the newly elected city leaders who were sworn-in including the new Mayor Robert Moon and newly elected Council Members, Geoff Kors and J.R. Roberts.

The meeting also marked the end of outgoing Mayor Steve Pougnet’s troubled tenure.

He did not run for reelection in November amid on-going conflict of interest allegations and an FBI investigation.