The biggest changes coming to downtown Lafayette over the next six months are going into places that already exist. A 1941 movie house is getting a new interior behind its old face. A former Peruvian restaurant's patio will become an oyster bar. Nineteen BART permit parking spaces are becoming a public plaza. Most of this is aimed at early 2027, so this fall a lot of familiar spots look like construction sites.
New buildings are going up too, but they are housing. The places to gather are coming from reuse.
Here's where each project stands as of early October.
The Park Theater keeps its face and gets a new interior
The Park Theater opened in 1941. It closed in 2005, and Lamorinda Weekly reported that the main reason was the arrival of regional multiplexes. The building sat dark until the Park Theater Trust bought it on the community's behalf. Escrow closed in December 2021.
Since then, most of the work has happened out of sight. The Trust's September 28 construction update says new structural steel is going up "after months of work on the foundations," and the shape of the renovated theater is starting to show above ground. If you've walked past lately and seen a crane setting girders, that's the change. The project has moved from below ground to above it.
The building will hold far more than it did when it closed. According to Lamorinda Weekly's March 2026 report, the single-screen movie house is becoming a two-theater cinema with a community space, a rooftop terrace and a commercial kitchen, and CinemaSFBAY will run it. The Trust's FAQ also mentions local beer and wine, a concession area, and rentals for community groups and private gatherings. The Trust describes the programming as movies, live music and special events.
The renovation is also designed to keep what the building already had. The original architect, William B. David, built more than 25 cinemas in California and Oregon in the Streamlined Moderne style. The side marquee uses 1941 Noviol glass tubing from Murano, Italy, and Jim Rizzo of NeonWorks in Berkeley is storing the neon until he restores it. The Trust copied the original carpet with a subtler floral pattern, recreated the exterior wood-and-glass poster boxes, and is restoring the original Art Deco sconces and teardrop ceiling lights.
As for timing, the Trust's homepage now says "the push is on to reopen in early 2027." An older line on the same page still mentions a 2026 grand reopening. Lamorinda Weekly's March 2026 estimate also put the finish in early 2027, and that report said the Trust had raised $12 million of its $15 million goal by then. The homepage is still asking donors for the "final $3 million," which matches that March figure. Early 2027 is a target, not a date on a ticket.
A Tomales Bay oyster farm chose the smaller downtown
On the same stretch of Mt. Diablo Boulevard, the former Barranco space at 3596 Mt. Diablo Blvd. has a new tenant. In mid-September, Hog Island Oyster Co. announced it will open an oyster bar there in early 2027. The 2,200-square-foot space is on the same block as Pizza Antica and Batch & Brine.
What made the space work for Hog Island was mostly what was already there. CEO and cofounder John Finger told the Mercury News:
"I loved the inside-outside nature of it, the nice big patio in front and the old rustic-wood feel, and the fact that it could make a really spectacular-looking oyster bar inside."
Size mattered too. The company had options as far away as Monterey and Los Angeles. Finger said Lafayette's modest scale, compared with the busier downtown in neighboring Walnut Creek, fit what Hog Island wanted, and he described the plan as "a neighborhood restaurant." He also said he'd heard that many Hog Island fans come from the East Bay suburbs.
Hog Island started as a five-acre farm on Tomales Bay in 1983. It now runs oyster bars in Marshall, at San Francisco's Ferry Building, in Larkspur's Marin Country Market and at Napa's Oxbow Market. The Lafayette menu will cover lunch and dinner with raw and grilled oysters, small plates, sandwiches and entrées, along with beer, wine, cocktails and some dishes made just for this location. If you've been driving to Tomales Bay or the Ferry Building for oysters, those trips get a lot shorter.
The opening joins a downtown dining scene that the Mercury News described with Postino, Metro Lafayette, Rêve Bistro, The Social Bird, The Breakfast Club, Tutu's Food and Drink and The Hideout. For more on how Lafayette's recent openings came together, see our earlier look at Lafayette's newest downtown spots.
The BART plaza is late, and it's being built on parking
The third reuse project is the one most commuters see every day. At the Lafayette BART station, the BART Bike Station/Pathway Project is turning 19 BART permit parking spaces into a public plaza and vehicle turnaround. The project also adds an ADA-compliant shared-use path linking the station to the Town Center pathway, a secure bike station at the south entrance with room for up to 82 bicycles, and an art installation in the plaza.
The City's project page still says construction began in March 2026 and would wrap up by the end of summer 2026. Summer has ended and the work is still going. The October 2 update says the contractor removed formwork for the new curb, gutter and ramp, started laying storm drain pipe, formed two catch basins and began trenching for irrigation. For the week of October 5, the plan is more formwork, irrigation and storm drain pipe, plus concrete for the catch basins and ramp. Crews work 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays, excluding holidays. The City hasn't posted a new finish date, so the honest status is "still under construction."
This piece of path has been a long time coming. The developers of the Town Center condominiums upgraded their segment of the pathway in 2018 as a condition of approval. The last stretch to BART was left unimproved and didn't meet ADA requirements, and that gap is the reason this project exists.
The new height downtown is housing
New construction downtown is mostly residential. The City's October 2 Weekly Roundup names 1001 Oak Hill Road as one of the three most visible construction projects in town right now, a multi-story condominium project with ground-floor retail. The City's Major Development Projects page describes it as seven stories with 85 homes and doesn't give a completion date.
At 3458 Mt. Diablo Blvd., at Second Street, the developer has asked to revise an approved project. Under the proposal, the building would grow from six stories and 62 feet 3 inches to seven stories and 71 feet, drop from 31 units to 30, and lose one commercial space. It goes before the Planning Commission on Monday, October 5, at 7 p.m. No decision has been made as of this writing.
The longer-range planning is just starting. The Mt. Diablo Boulevard Corridor Multimodal Mobility study, or M3, held its first advisory meeting on September 21, and the committee's term runs about 18 to 24 months. The City says the plan will create a 20-year vision for downtown.
There's one small change at street level, too. The Starbucks at 3547 Mt. Diablo Blvd., Suite A, in La Fiesta Square, was set to close permanently on September 25, according to a notice posted inside the store. The notice pointed customers to the location at 3343 Mt. Diablo Blvd. and didn't give a reason.
What's on the downtown calendar this fall
The theater and the oyster bar won't open until next year, but downtown has plenty going on this month. Here it is in order:
- Saturday, October 10, 9 to 11 a.m.: East Bay Regional Park District previews new history panels planned for 7.65 miles of the Lafayette-Moraga Regional Trail. The preview is at the Jennifer Russell Building, Lafayette Community Center, 500 St. Mary's Road.
- Through October 16: Parts of Leigh Creekside Park are closed for lawn restoration. The rest of the park stays open.
- Sunday, October 18: The Lafayette Res Run for Education has 5K, 10K and 2-mile starts at 8, 8:15 and 8:45 a.m., with a Healthy Lifestyles Fair on Lafayette Circle from 7:30 to 10:30 a.m. If you walk the Reservoir regularly, our post on what's changing at the Lafayette Reservoir covers how race day affects your usual loop.
- Thursday, October 22, 7 to 8 p.m.: Friends of the Lafayette Library hosts author Vanessa Hua for Sweet Thursday in the Don Tatzin Community Hall, 3491 Mt. Diablo Blvd.
- Friday, October 30, 4 to 6 p.m.: The Chamber's Trick-or-Treat Street takes over Lafayette Plaza, with temporary street closures and limited parking.
The City describes the Park Theater renovation as sitting next to Lafayette Plaza, so on October 30 the trick-or-treaters will be right beside the new steel.
If you own a home near downtown and want to know how these openings might change your neighborhood's appeal next year, Joanna Chen is happy to walk through it with you. You can start with an instant home valuation and we'll check back in when the Park's marquee lights up again.
