After years of planning and persistence, Seaside’s downtown is about to go boom.

On a recent morning, Gloria Stearns, an economic development manager for the city of Seaside, stands on a sidewalk on Broadway and describes the remaining roadwork to revitalize the downtown artery.

As Stearns does this, a woman walks by with a small dog on a leash, and without breaking her stride, she says to Stearns with a smile, “It looks nice, doesn’t it?”

The road, which has been narrowed from four lanes to two, looks pristine, and the sidewalks, which have been widened and decorated with newly planted trees, have never looked better.

It’s the near-culmination of infrastructure work that began last June, and which is expected to be complete in time for a June 7 ribbon-cutting to celebrate the street’s revitalization.

The work comes after years of planning – the city’s West Broadway Urban Village plan was approved in 2010 – and was made possible by more than $7 million in state and federal grants.

Though the infrastructure piece is nearly complete, the greater revitalization, as Stearns makes clear, is only beginning: “What’s happening down here is all of our real estate is turning around really quickly,” Stearns says. “Prices are going up.”

Among the recent investors is Walter Georis, owner of the Casanova restaurant in Carmel and Georis Winery in Carmel Valley, who has purchased a handful of lots where one of his sons, Klaus – a chef who has worked in acclaimed kitchens, including Quince in San Francisco – will open a restaurant. Another of Georis’ sons, Max, is planning to open a small coffee shop and recording studio.

“It’s not just a matter of ‘That’s a cool idea,’” Walter Georis says. “It’s doing the right things to attract the right people, and that’s what we aim to do.”

A brewery and taproom, Other Brother, is also in the works, and there are multiple cannabis businesses readying to go. Beyond dispensaries, they include both growing and manufacturing operations.

“We want to do it in a high-class way,” Stearns says, “and keep it all very inviting.”

The city is also hoping to purchase an entire block on the northern side of the street – it’s currently owned by six different small business owners operating various shops, like a florist and appliance repair – to build a new library and a parking structure that would have apartments on top, and perhaps a rooftop bar. Stearns says it’s a high-priority “catalyst project,” though how the city would finance it remains an open question.

Bringing more density to the district is central to the city’s plan: Any new buildings on West Broadway have to be a minimum of three stories tall, which the city hopes will not only breathe new life to the street, but also add critical housing. But before that happens, the city has a short-term plan to get more feet on the street.

A weekly farmers market – the first-ever for the Peninsula’s most populous city – is slated to begin Saturday, June 9, two days after the ribbon-cutting. Around the same time, the city is launching a bikeshare program to help get cars off the street.

All of which speaks to why Georis is investing in Seaside’s downtown, which he hopes “will be unique, a place of gathering for generations to come.”