Earlier this year, the City of Carson adopted a new specific plan aiming to guide the redevelopment of its 1970s era Civic Center. Now the City begins the hunt for a development team to execute that vision.

The Carson Civic Center, which spans roughly 20 acres at the northeast corner of Avalon Boulevard and Carson Street, is currently improved with the existing City Hall building and event center complex. Much of the property, however, is given over to surface parking, with green space oriented toward the southern side of the site. While the two existing structures are to be retained, the acres of surface parking which surround them are the targets for redevelopment.

Development is proposed along the perimeter of the site, including a proposal for a new City Hall directly to the east of the existing building along Carson Street, and a new performing arts center at the northwest corner of the property. Space would also be left for a potential mixed-use housing development to the north of the exiting event center, while the eastern section of the property would be reserved for a hotel development or entertainment complex.

Conceptual rendering of Carson Civic Center development with hotel, aerial view looking northwestCity of Carson

A new network of internal pathways would be included in the project, and lined with retail uses for ground-level activation. Those pathways would intersect in a new elliptical "Jewel Plaza" near the center of the Civic Center.

The Daily Breeze reports that the project would include: 

  • a maximum 15-story / 200-foot-tall City Hall with nearly 200,000 square feet of floor area;
  • an approximately 124,000-square-foot performing arts center with a 2,000-seat main theater and a smaller 150-seat venue with 5,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space;
  • a four-story mixed-use housing development with 140 residential units and 10,000 square feet of commercial space;
  • a four-level parking garage with space for a 640 vehicles and a 60,000-square-foot bus depot; and
  • either a 420-room hotel or a 130,000-square-foot entertainment complex with restaurants, museum and "immersive" entertainment space.

A timeline for the project will be determined after selection of a development team.

Conceptual rendering of Carson Civic Center development with entertainment complex, aerial view looking northwestCity of Carson

A pre-proposal contract for potential responses to the request for proposals is scheduled for May 21. More information can be found at the project's website.

A Civic Center redevelopment in Carson would follow a recent slate of mixed-use and multifamily residential buildings that have replaced surrounding commercial lots to the north along Avalon Boulevard.

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