An underutilized public space is now on the road to becoming the centerpiece of our most cherished park. The outcomes of MICD have been nothing less than transformative.
Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson (2020 - Present)
2023 MICD 77
Introduction
At the 77th National Session of MICD in 2023, Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson of Riverside, CA (population 315,000) sought advice on revitalizing an underutilized historic building in her city’s most prized park.
Bolstered by advice during the MICD session and follow-up Alumni Advising meetings, Mayor Lock Dawson went on to lead extensive community engagement efforts, attract funding, and ultimately issue a successful RFP for a community partner who will transform and activate the building – soon to be a key anchor in a larger effort to transform an entire district.
Challenge
Located just outside downtown Riverside, the Armory is a historic 12,000-square-foot building originally used for National Guard storage. The City of Riverside now owns the property, which has reached the end of its useful life and has been used primarily as parking for emergency response vehicles. Its location at the edge of Fairmount Park – a grand, 250-acre, Olmsted-designed park – gives the Armory the potential to serve as a welcoming gateway into the park and the adjacent Santa Ana River.
Though the Santa Ana River runs directly through the city, development in Riverside has long turned its back on the river, leaving few places for residents to access its natural beauty. Mayor Lock Dawson saw the Armory building as an opportunity within her larger mission to “put the river back in Riverside,” which is sparking new potential for anchors and connections all across the city.
Impact
“I came to MICD with lots of ideas but didn’t know how to get this project done; the expertise of the Resource Team made me see this space in a whole new way that made it doable. Within two years, we’ve gone from storing fire trucks here to preparing to open a brewery with great connections to the river.”
During the MICD session and follow-up guidance through MICD Alumni Advising, a group of design and development experts helped Mayor Lock Dawson channel her dreams for the space into actionable next steps. In particular, advice from award-winning landscape architect Elizabeth Kennedy stuck with her: to end up with a successful, beloved project, let the vision develop organically from the community. The city went on to pivot its engagement strategy, hosting multiple open-ended listening sessions inside the Armory building rather than collecting feedback on a list of ideas for specific uses.
The responses were then distilled into a larger narrative about why this space is so important to the people of Riverside and what residents hope the project will bring to the community. That resident-led narrative helped shape an RFP that was very clear about how the space should feel and the community function it should serve – as a welcoming gateway and vibrant destination for all of Riverside – without being prescriptive about uses or types of respondents.
In 2024, the city issued an RFP seeking a partner to activate the Armory with “vibrant, community-focused uses that attract visitors and create a proud Riverside destination,” with outdoor recreational uses as well as food, music, or art. The winning respondent, beloved local microbrewery Thompson Brewing Company, will restore the Armory building and activate it as a family-friendly restaurant and brewery that makes the most of its unique location next to Fairmount Park. Notably, resident response has been universally positive – a testament to the robust community-led visioning process.
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The compelling narrative also helped attract significant funding and other support. Conceptual designs from Bloomberg Associates helped spark imaginations about the possibilities for the space, and the city secured an additional Bloomberg Philanthropies grant to support public art on the outside of the Armory building. All of this momentum attracted Congressional support, to the tune of $2.5 million in federal funding for environmental cleanup, building stabilization, and renovations. An underutilized public space is now poised to become the catalyst for what the city envisions as the River District — a vibrant hub of recreation, connection, and community along the Santa Ana River. Meanwhile, Riverside County is also implementing a larger wayfinding project to improve connections around the river, which includes clear directions that will draw visitors between the river and the Armory.
The Armory revitalization project will soon break ground, and Mayor Lock Dawson expects the cut the ribbon on a vibrant community destination within a year. Meanwhile, the larger effort to “put the river back in Riverside” is moving forward with greater community enthusiasm and momentum each day.
Lessons for City Leaders
- Show care for your public spaces: “When the city doesn’t take care of its public spaces, people feel that the government doesn’t care. When you make a public commitment to improve a space, residents truly feel like you care about them, their families, and their neighborhoods.”
- Embrace your power as “chief convener” for genuine engagement: Bringing residents together in the project location is a powerful way to spark new ideas and collaboratively build a vision. By starting with an open-ended conversation about what residents want and need, city leaders can create true buy-in from the earliest stages of a project.
- Tell a clear story: A compelling, community-driven narrative helps attract funders and partners who share the same goals.
- Public investment multiplies private investment: “It’s really important to invest in civic spaces in ways that also attract partnerships with the private sector: the government is making a commitment and putting up money in a way that makes it easier for the private sector to do what they do best.”
