Carmel culture: Arts & Design District to be city's competitive edge.

• Author: Mayer, Kathy
• Position: REGIONAL REPORT CENTRAL

IF EUROPE CAN DRAW crowds of American tourists every year to see beautiful art, so can Carmel. And if it takes an architecturally stunning environment to lure top businesses who otherwise might choose a community with seashores and mountains, Carmel can build it.

Those were Mayor James Brainard's visions nearly five years ago when he set out to create Carmel's Arts & Design District, an upscale hub of fine art galleries, a premier concert hall, abundant outdoor sculpture and more. One billion dollars in public and private money later--with more to come--this city of about 69,000 is taking its place on the cultural stage.

The arts serve as the unifying theme for the district, says Brainard, who comes from a family of musicians. "The art goes beyond galleries to designing a city that inspires and motivates people."

New town center. Anchored at Main and Range Line Road in Carmel's Old Town area, the district encompasses 10 to 12 blocks in each direction, set off by three distinctive archways, with a fourth to come.

"We're basically creating a new town center," says Les Olds, director of Carmel's Redevelopment Commission, which has acquired and resold property and is overseeing the public/private developments. Updated infrastructure, lamp posts with district signs and brick sidewalks--to the tune of $10 million--are in place, and several J. Seward Johnson sculptures have been purchased and installed outdoors, with more coming.

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"I like to say he's the Norman Rockwell of American sculpture, very populist," Brainard says of the California artist's painted bronze sculptures. They include a father helping a daughter ride a bicycle, a woman shopping, a girl watering flowers and a man on a bench reading a newspaper.

"People get their pictures taken with them. They're a fun, interactive type of art that expresses who we are as a people," Brainard says. "It's a non-edgy way to start our public art program. Our goal is to have the largest collection of his work, and we intend to get other types of work as well."

New construction, historic look, The first two of several new buildings in the district recently opened: Old Town Shops at Range Line Road and Main Street, and The Lurie Building at 30 West Main St.

A three-story, 49,000-square-foot business condominium with a historic look, Old Town Shops houses Magdalena Gallery of Art and Art & Soul Gallery and Frame, among others.

Among the occupants in the new four-story...