April signaled the start of two big commercial projects in Redding.

Building permits were issued for the My Place Hotels on East Cypress Avenue and the At Home store on Dana Drive.

All told, the city’s building department issued five commercial permits for projects worth $13.3 million in April. That sparked what had been a slow start for the commercial sector in Redding in 2024.

To date, the city has issued six commercial permits for projects worth $14 million, compared to 13 commercial permits for projects worth $21.2 million for the first four months of 2023.

My Place looks to open early 2024

Redding will be the first location in California for My Place Hotels.

Joe Dinger, vice president of development for Pacific Northwest My Place Hotels Group, said My Place Hotels “dot the I-5” with locations in Medford, Oregon; Gresham, Oregon; and Vancouver, Washington.

“So, for us, Redding is a natural extension,” he said.

Dinger said construction is expected to be completed in late February or early March.

“We are typically a little bit quicker with hotel projects. It’s only a 64-unit property, no swimming pool. It’s a pretty simple construction as it’s related to hotel construction, which is usually an 18-month timeline,” Dinger said.

The site in Redding has been vacant for years and had been a magnet for vandals and homeless people before the empty, dilapidated former Meek’s building was razed in October 2022. Meek’s closed in 2006. BI-MORE Spend Less moved in, but that retailer closed in 2010.

Demo work on old Costco underway

What was the tire center at the old Costco on Dana Drive is gone.

The tire center jutted out just north of the old store’s entrance. It was demolished to make room for what will be the new façade of At Home, which will anchor River Bend Commons when it moves into the old Costco building.

Tilton Pacific Construction is doing the demolition work.

At Home has a location in Chico in the Chico Marketplace on East 20th Street.

Also coming to River Bend Commons is Redding’s first Raising Cane’s, a popular fast-food chicken franchise.

On a side note, we were traveling to the Bay Area recently when our daughter, Faith, wanted to check out the Raising Cane's in Vacaville. The restaurant featured a double drive-thru, much like Chick-fil-A and cars were backed up almost to the street.

Curiously, Raising Cane's in Vacaville shares a parking lot with In-N-Out Burger. Talk about traffic gridlock.

Work on Raising Cane’s in Redding is expected to start later this year and the company plans to open in Redding in September 2025.

At Home’s media relations team did not respond to an email seeking information about when the store is expected to open.

Maybe before the end of this year?

Stay tuned.

Old Barnes & Noble/OfficeMax building headed for auction

The Barnes & Noble and OfficeMax building in Redding will be auctioned off later this month.

The Churn Creek Road building has been vacant since late last year when Barnes & Noble closed to relocate to Hilltop Drive. The bookstore had been the lone tenant ever since OfficeMax closed in 2017.

It's among a growing list of vacant retail buildings in Redding.

Recent additions include Kelly-Moore Paints on Hilltop Drive and Site for Sore Eyes on East Cypress Avenue. Kelly-Moore closed all 150 of its stores in January after 78 years in business. The owners of Site for Sore Eyes retired and closed the store after nearly 20 years in Redding.

Strip malls across Redding are filled with “space for lease” signs, a pretty good indication of the low demand for used commercial space in these times.

Which brings us back to the former Barnes & Noble/OfficeMax building.

The East Coast Company that owns the property has tasked Tranzon Asset Strategies to sell the 44,000-square-foot building.

“Obviously, you know, there is a soft retail market across the country. This is a seller we worked with frequently in the past,” Tiffeny Cook of Tranzon recently told me over the phone. “So, we have (sold) a number of properties for them at auction.”

Cook is based in Orange County. Her team recently traveled to Redding to show the property to prospective buyers.

Bidding will start May 20 and closes at 2 p.m. Eastern Time on May 22.

The minimum bid is $1.375 million. Cook said the minimum bid is based on the value of comparable retail properties in the area.

David Benda covers business, development and anything else that comes up for the USA TODAY Network in Redding. He also writes the weekly "Buzz on the Street" column. He’s part of a team of dedicated reporters that investigate wrongdoing, cover breaking news and tell other stories about your community. Reach him on Twitter @DavidBenda_RS or by phone at 1-530-338-8323. To support and sustain this work, please subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: The Buzz: April was a big month for commercial construction in Redding