Downtown Upland's New Plaza Is Taking Shape, With a Stage Named for a Hometown Guitarist
"I love that the stage will be named after him."
Councilwoman Janice Elliott said that at a packed Upland City Council meeting in March 2022, as the Daily Bulletin reported. She remembered dancing to Backstreet, the band Roman "Roach" Foronda played with for nearly 50 years at the Upland Lemon Festival, reunions, dances, clubs and bars. That night the council voted to name a future downtown plaza for former councilmember Tom Thomas and its band stage for Foronda.
Four and a half years later, the stage is real. Crews poured the concrete for it on September 30, 2026, at the corner of 2nd Avenue and the Pacific Electric Trail. The plaza being built around it is small. It still marks a real change for Historic Downtown Upland, which gets its first permanent place built for live music, and it faces the bike trail.
In its weekly Notable News report for the week ending October 22, 2026, the city said the contractor was still digging the holes for the plaza's two magnolia trees. The landscaping plans had been approved, and posts for the cantilevered shade structures had arrived and were being prepared for installation. When Upland broke ground on May 14, 2026, the city said it expected to finish construction in 2026 and to hold a grand opening and ribbon cutting.
For years the site was two unused lots between Second and Third avenues, beside the Pacific Electric Trail. A 2020 Daily Bulletin report on the first concept said the land belonged to the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority. The lots held the remains of an old citrus packing house wall and sat next to the Mitchell's Plumbing building. The design has changed since that sketch. The version being built comes from the October 2025 bid package and the city's June 2026 capital project summary.
| Element | What the plans call for |
|---|---|
| Stage | Raised concrete band stage with a ramp and a stage monument sign |
| Shade | Two cantilevered shade structures over covered seating |
| Seating | Seat walls |
| Entry | Entry arch and gateway features |
| Ground | Concrete and decomposed-granite paving, lawn, and a dry-stream swale |
| Planting | Trees in tree grates, shrubs, and two magnolias |
| Lighting | Decorative and standard fixtures, plus string lights |
| Cyclists | Bike repair station and bike racks |
Two items on that list explain the whole design. The stage is the first thing the contractor poured. The bike repair station only makes sense because the site sits on the trail. Everything else is shade, seating and plants arranged around those two.
Downtown Upland already has plenty of music, but it plays in borrowed space. Events like 2nd on Second close the street for the evening, and the city updated its street closure permit to add an October 10, 2026 date for that event this year. A raised stage with a ramp, a sign and lighting is a different thing. It stays up after the barricades come down.
The city's groundbreaking announcement describes the plaza as space for "community gatherings, holiday celebrations, small concerts, and everyday use by residents and visitors." The words "small concerts" fit the name on the stage. Foronda was a local working musician, not a headliner. The Daily Bulletin said his Fender Telecaster was as well known as his warm smile, and that his former bandmates told the council he greeted audience members as if they were part of the show. A stage built for a neighborhood-sized crowd and named for someone who played to neighborhood-sized crowds fits the person it honors.
The plaza's location makes the same kind of match. Tom Thomas served 20 years on the Upland City Council and later sat on the board of the San Antonio Water Co. The Daily Bulletin described him as an avid cyclist and a champion of the Pacific Electric Bicycle and Pedestrian Trail, the same trail that now runs through the plaza named for him. He also helped raise money for the Grove Theatre, the Carnegie Library and the Upland Skate Park, and he served with the Upland Sister City Association and the Upland Community Foundation. The paper ran a longer remembrance of the cycling councilman that spring.
The plaza will serve as a trailhead and a stopping point on the Pacific Electric Trail, meant to bring trail users into downtown to visit local businesses. For most of its length the trail passes behind things. At this corner it will open onto shade, seating, a repair stand for a slipped chain, and the 2nd Avenue storefronts a short walk away.
On February 9, 2026, the City Council was asked to approve the plans and award the construction contract to RCCI, doing business as Ramirez Company, for $1,545,819.10, with a 10% contingency of $154,581.90. The staff report put the total project cost, including other expenses, at $2,000,223.
The money came from outside the city's day-to-day budget. The same February 9 agenda proposed moving $335,823 from a 2023 Norma Torres Community Project Funding grant into the plaza and adding $73,887 in Quimby funds. The city's June 1, 2026 capital budget presentation lists three funding sources for the roughly $2 million project: the Quimby Fund, an Aguilar 2022 allocation, and the Torres 2023 grant.
Getting to a signed contract took several rounds. The council approved the downtown plaza concept in 2020 and named it in 2022. The city issued its construction bid package on October 10, 2025, with bids due November 3, 2025. The contract went to the council in February 2026, and the ceremonial shovels came out in May.
The city lists holiday celebrations among the plaza's intended uses. This year's season runs on the familiar calendar from Upland's Recreation and Community Services special events page, with the plaza site a short walk from the downtown events:
People walking downtown for the tree lighting or the parade can see how far the plaza has come. The stage was poured at the end of September. By the city's late-October report, the shade posts had arrived and crews were digging for the two magnolia trees. The city posts progress on the plaza in its weekly Notable News reports, and those reports are the place to watch for the ribbon cutting.
Downtown projects like this one shape how a street works long before they show up in a home's value. If you live near 2nd Avenue or the Pacific Electric Trail and want to know how changes downtown figure into your plans, Cornerstone Realty Group is happy to talk it through. Get in touch for a free home valuation and personalized plan.
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