Old Town Sherwood Strategic Plan

In January 2026, the City of Sherwood released its draft Old Town Strategic Plan — an action-oriented, five-year roadmap prepared by First Forty Feet in partnership with Leland Consulting Group and Harper Houf Peterson Righellis. Aligned with the Town Center Plan and Vision 2040, the plan organizes thirteen priority actions around three core strategies: enhancing Old Town's sense of arrival through wayfinding and access improvements; promoting business health and growth through complementary investment, diverse uses, and expanded programming; and investing in infrastructure to catalyze infill development while maintaining the district's historic character.

The plan concentrates public investment along two corridors — SW Pine Street and SW Columbia Street. Key moves include extending Pine Street's signature "curbless" streetscape from SW 1st Street to SW 3rd Street, undergrounding utilities, extending Columbia Street to create a new "front door" to Old Town, and pursuing a pedestrian rail crossing at Washington Street. To fund and incentivize this work, the City intends to advance a Local Improvement District (LID) for shared infrastructure costs and a Vertical Housing Development Zone (VHDZ) offering tax incentives for mixed-use housing — alongside zoning amendments, business retention programs, district branding, and a parking management plan. Across its eight identified focus sites, the plan projects a development yield of roughly 84,300 square feet of commercial space and 265 residential units, supporting the City's goal of a vibrant, walkable, 18-hour Old Town. Find the Old Town Strategic Plan Here

The Symposium Site: Symposium Commons

Our property at SW 1st and Pine Streets — the current home of Symposium Coffee — is identified in the Strategic Plan as Site C, described as "a prominent entry to Old Town from the east, and the 100% corner of Old Town." It is one of the plan's named catalyst opportunities, sitting at the heart of the "Activate 1st & Pine" focus area where the City's curbless street extension and utility undergrounding will land first.

The site comprises two parcels totaling 10,000 square feet, zoned Retail Commercial with the Old Town overlay, within the Smockville Historic District. The overlay permits full-lot coverage with no off-street parking, setback, or loading requirements, a 40-foot base height, and a conditional 5-foot bonus for public amenities such as awnings, public art, or a street-facing courtyard.

A September 2025 feasibility study by First Forty Feet — the same firm authoring the City's Strategic Plan — tested three development concepts for the site, each a three-story, mixed-use building with ground-floor retail and a central courtyard. The options range from approximately 23,200 to 25,000 gross square feet, with 3,500–6,000 square feet of street-level retail and 16 to 24 residential units in mixes spanning studios to two-bedroom homes. Every concept orients active, highly glazed storefronts to SW Pine and SW 1st Streets, consistent with the Strategic Plan's development character standards for Site C: 75% ground-floor transparency, vertical bays, brick or stone materials, recessed windows, and traditional awnings.

The result is a rare alignment of private readiness and public intent. As the City invests in streetscape, access, and incentive tools like the VHDZ, the Symposium site is positioned to deliver exactly what the Strategic Plan envisions for this corner: housing above active retail, anchored by a beloved community gathering place, at the gateway where Old Town begins.