Downtown Pops! is the City's program designed to lower the barriers to entry for businesses looking to open a brick and mortar space. In addition, the program intends to reduce the risk for property owners to take on new tenants during challenging times. Through the program, the City enters a master lease with downtown commercial property owners with vacant spaces on Pacific Avenue, provides a guaranteed minimum rent, and then sub-leases these spaces to various pop-up tenants for a six-month term.
Lease terms are set at a percentage of monthly sales. Long term lease options may be negotiated with the broker or property owner based on initial six-month term.
Downtown Pops! tenants are eligible for:
Up to six months of free internet service provided by Cruzio Internet. The leased space must be ready to serve with Cruzio Internet to receive this benefit.
A $1,000 tenant improvement grant to assist with preparing their new commercial space.
Interested in a short-term activation?
Downtown Pops! is expanding its flexible activation model to support a variety of short-term retail and marketplace experiences in downtown Santa Cruz. Opportunities are available at two downtown properties, 1117 and 1407 Pacific Avenue, offering spaces for businesses, local vendors, and event organizers to bring new ideas and experiences to the downtown area.
The program welcomes applications for retail pop-ups, curated marketplaces, seasonal events, and other creative commercial activations.
Flexible lease terms range from one to six months, with rent set at 10% of monthly sales.
This program is intended for revenue generating retail concepts
Applications are accepted on a rolling basis; submit your information through the Downtown Pop! application to share your concept.
Check out photos of the space from when Collective Santa Cruz hosted their event there:
