Novato Boulevard's Dig Begins Just as Old Town Novato's Holiday Season Does

On Tuesday, October 20, people gathered outside the Scott House at 917 Sherman Avenue and looked through its windows. The house was built in the 1920s and once served as a municipal building. The city closed it in 2005 because of unsafe seismic conditions. The ceremony marked the start of the renovation that will turn it into the new home of the Novato History Museum, as the Marin Independent Journal reported.

A few blocks of downtown away, the larger project in the city's pipeline is due to begin about now. Novato Boulevard between Diablo Avenue and Grant Avenue is about to spend the next 18 to 24 months as a work zone. One project broke ground this fall and the other is expected to start this fall. Counted from that expected start, the Boulevard's 18 to 24 months would run to roughly spring through fall of 2028. The museum is due in the 2027–2028 fiscal year. Old Town's holiday calendar falls on the blocks between them.

Novato Boulevard goes underground first

On September 22, 2026, the City Council awarded the combined roadway and utility contract to Team Ghilotti, Inc. for approximately $16.8 million. The City's October update calls the company the lowest responsive, responsible bidder of the eight bids received. The City, as lead agency, is still finalizing the construction agreement. It expects work to begin in late October or early November 2026. Patch reported that the city received a formal bid protest on the afternoon of the council vote. The council approved the award on the condition that the protest be resolved before the city manager signs. That makes the start date an expectation rather than a fixed date.

Three agencies with three sets of pipes are combining their work into one contract. The City says the point is to shorten the overall timeline and avoid tearing up the same street repeatedly. According to Patch, the work goes in this order:

1. Novato Sanitary District replaces sewer mains and the laterals that run from homes to the centerline trunk.
2. North Marin Water District replaces water lines and services.
3. The City of Novato rebuilds the street surface.

Because of that order, the first months of the project will look like trenches and steel plates. The new street comes later. PG&E has also been working on the corridor. The City says its major gas and electrical undergrounding is substantially complete, but service cutovers, removal of overhead equipment and telecommunications work will continue into 2027. The City's guidance for drivers is general: expect periodic delays, lane restrictions and temporary changes to access. It is building a dedicated construction webpage with schedules and traffic impacts, and said in its October update that the page should be live within about two weeks. Detour maps and lane-closure locations should show up on that page first.

Where the finished street meets Grant Avenue

On June 12, 2018, the Council approved a new three-lane layout for the corridor. The conceptual design is a three-lane street with sidewalks and bike lanes in both directions and new traffic signals at Diablo Avenue, Seventh Street and Grant Avenue. Near downtown the layout widens. Between Seventh Street-Tamalpais Avenue and Grant Avenue, the City's plan calls for two northbound lanes, one southbound lane and a center two-way left-turn lane. The project also includes updated crosswalks, new street lighting, drainage upgrades and drought-tolerant landscaping.

Project engineer Elisa Sarlatte described the result to the council, as reported by Patch:

"We are going to add sidewalks on the portions of Novato Boulevard where there currently are not sidewalks on both sides of the street. We will be adding bike lanes throughout the full length from Diablo to Grant on both sides of the street, and then we'll have a full traffic lane in either direction with a shared center lane."

The project ends at the Grant Avenue signal. The City's description covers Novato Boulevard up to that intersection and does not include work along Grant Avenue itself. Downtown's main street sits just past the end of the work zone. Many trips into Old Town still start on the Boulevard, so that is where waits will grow on a busy Saturday.

The museum is moving toward foot traffic

The Scott House project explains why the museum is moving at all. The Novato History Museum now occupies the old postmaster's house on De Long Avenue. According to the Novato Historical Guild, which runs the museum, the site has trouble drawing visitors across the busy avenue and has accessibility problems and limited parking. Sherman Avenue is a better spot for walk-in visitors. The Downtown Novato Community Farmers' Market set up on Sherman between Grant and De Long every Tuesday from May 5 through October 27 this year.

The renovation is fully funded. The Guild launched its campaign in April 2025 and reached its $3.2 million goal by December, with about 160 donors and a $1 million bequest from the estate of Charmaine Burdell, who came from one of Novato's oldest families. The work covers seismic retrofits, structural repairs, accessibility improvements, electrical and mechanical upgrades and roof replacement, while keeping the house's historic character. Completion is expected in the 2027–2028 fiscal year. "Bringing a cultural, educational and entertainment venue to downtown," Guild member Jeanne MacLeamy said at the ceremony, as quoted by the Marin IJ.

So Old Town has construction planned on two sides, with both projects expected to finish around 2028. Novato Boulevard brings road and pipe work to the approach. On Sherman Avenue, crews are retrofitting a house that has been closed for two decades.

The holiday calendar between the two sites

The holiday season on Grant Avenue runs as usual. Made Local Marketplace, at 881 Grant Avenue, held its grand opening on August 24, 2025. It is the second location of a Santa Rosa vendor market owned by Willow Peterson, as the Press Democrat reported. This year it is hosting much of November's downtown programming. The Downtown Novato Business Association handles the bigger street events.

Made Local sells tickets for its workshops on its own site. The DNBA's events page describes the Tree Lighting Festival as the night Old Town's streets close to cars for live performances, artisan vendors, food and drink, kids' craft projects and the tree lighting. Santa arrives by firetruck. On New Year's Eve at noon, a ladder truck drops thousands of small bouncy balls onto the street from 40 feet up, and kids get a souvenir hard hat.

The DNBA also describes two recurring traditions that have no 2026 listing yet:

• Small Business Saturday is held the Saturday after Thanksgiving, which is November 28 this year, with shop offers, sip-and-shops and live music.
• Not So Silent Night is held on the second Saturday in December, which is December 12 this year, with late shopping, carolers, sip-and-shops and music.

Both dates follow the association's usual pattern. Hours and details will be on the DNBA site once it posts them.

A new restaurant in an existing room

Jeff and Anna Fox, a Corte Madera couple, opened Fox Pizza on August 7 at 528 Alameda del Prado in the Ignacio neighborhood, according to the Marin IJ. The space was the former Dragon Cafe, where the Lu family ran their business for more than three decades before retiring in 2025. The Foxes took over the space in January 2026, began renovating in February, and turned the 728-square-foot room into a 20-seat sourdough pizzeria. It is open Wednesday through Sunday evenings.

From taking over the space in January to opening in August, Fox Pizza took about seven months.

If you own a home near the Novato Boulevard corridor or Old Town and want to know how the next two years of construction could affect a sale or a move, Now Homes can walk through it with you as neighbors first. When you're ready, request a free home valuation and we'll start with the street you live on.