The Heart of Dwtn lies between West and Bridge Street. From north to south Dwtn is located roughly between I-198 and Oak Ave, which also has a railroad located on it. Between Main St and I-198 are larger regional attractions including a hospital, convention center and hotel. Downtown Visalia benefits from being the county seat of Tulare and this has brought a good number of government jobs and regional amenities (aka convention center, major hospital and a large Dwtn hotel). Main St is the west-to-east heart of Dwtn containing several well preserved historic blocks filled with many food and beverage business and local shops. This is where the majority of Dwtn’s historic buildings have been preserved. Court St is the 2nd best urban street dwtn running north to south. The edges of Dwtn Visalia become rather auto centric filled with numerous surface lots and car friendly buildings. What Dwtn Visalia needs most to become a solid urban neighborhood is simply more people. Apartments and condos are rare here and Dwtn feels very much just a place to work and hang out.

Click here to view my Downtown Visalia album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Good sidewalk infrastructure and decent ADA curb cuts.
* In tact commercial district along Main Street stretching for several blocks with mostly 1-2 story buildings. Church and Court (running north to south)also have good urban fabric too.
* Decent concentration of historic stock along Main St. Historic stock becomes very scattered outside of Main Street.
* Several dedicated bike lanes running through Dwtn connecting to a good sized bike system across Visalia.
* Solid food and beverage bizs but also several night clubs, a couple art galleries and local museums, and a historic and new movie theater.
* Great local shopping options including tons of boutiques & clothing stores, plenty of banks, plenty of dessert shops, and other amenities. Also a major hospital, convention center, city hall, and other government bldgs are located dwtn.
* Solid public transit access.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Outside of Main St especially on Dwtn’s western, eastern, and northern edges the fabric loosens and many surface parking lots and autocentric uses spring up.
* Lots of bland modern infill from the 1960s-1990s. But of it at least has good urban massing albeit not always good urban form.
* Missing important neighborhood amenities such as a supermarket, hardware store,
* Limited population.