Business leaders and employers in Scotts Valley and the San Lorenzo Valley are beginning the new year with a sense of optimism, if not about the overall economy, but about renewed activity in the job market.
Major employers like Bay Photo, University of California Santa Cruz/Scotts Valley, Threshold Enterprises, Kaiser Permanente, Central California Alliance for Health, McDonald’s and others have hired or are looking to hire new employees in the first quarter.
Others may soon follow, especially in the hospitality sector.
Two new hotels – the Lexington Hotel in Scotts Valley and the Brookdale Lodge in Brookdale – are completing construction and will be opening in 2017.
The international residential retreat/education center, 1440 Multiversity, is nearing completion and is enrolling individuals for a May opening at the former Bethany College campus in Scotts Valley.
“The long anticipated re-opening of the Brookdale Lodge now has an estimated grand opening of its Phase 1 in May,” reported Barbara Mason, economic development coordinator for Santa Cruz County.
Phase 1 at the historic lodge is hotel rooms and retail space. The Highway 9 landmark last fall received county approval for a second phase, the reconstruction of the lobby and bar area, and is expected to seek new funding and new county approvals for the legendary Brook Room restaurant in the fall.
Mason said the Brookdale project could mean 200 new jobs.
An equal number of jobs are in the offing on Scotts Valley Drive, where the Lexington Hotel construction has been battling winter storms, as it completes construction, expected this summer.
Scotts Valley Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Danny Reber said UCSC wasn’t the only employer that has relocated from Santa Cruz to Scotts Valley. He said service businesses like accounting and tax firms and dentists are finding the leases, traffic, security and business environment attractive.
He said the Chamber has formed it first economic development committee, which will forge new relationships with the City of Scotts Valley.
Companies like Larkin Precision and Perfumer’s Apprentice are expanding their Scotts Valley facilities, according to Reber, and are examples of new types of small-scale manufacturing ideally suited to the available office-park settings in Scotts Valley.
“There are new things happening that I am excited about.” he said.
