City hopes to partner with agencies to transform vacant floor
into apartments
A planned analysis of a downtown building whose second floor has
been unused for more than half a century could lead to the former
boarding house being converted to apartments.
Hollister’s Redevelopment Agency is proposing partnering with
the property owners, the nonprofit housing developer CHISPA and the
Rancho Cielo Youth Corps to refurbish the upper floor of 727 San
Benito St. as residential apartments.
City hopes to partner with agencies to transform vacant floor into apartments
A planned analysis of a downtown building whose second floor has been unused for more than half a century could lead to the former boarding house being converted to apartments.
Hollister’s Redevelopment Agency is proposing partnering with the property owners, the nonprofit housing developer CHISPA and the Rancho Cielo Youth Corps to refurbish the upper floor of 727 San Benito St. as residential apartments.
The partnership could then become a pilot program to reduce construction costs while also building job skills for young adults working through the youth corps, Redevelopment Program Manager Mary Paxton said in a report to the city council.
“The pilot program could also be used as a model to explore establishing a similar program for housing rehabilitation projects in Hollister in partnership with other organizations such as Gavilan Junior College, the Center for Employment Training and local contractors,” she said in a report.
The Rancho Cielo Youth Corps is an on-the-job training program serving at-risk youth from ages 18 to 24. The vocational program offers members experience in construction projects and “builds a bridge for at-risk youth who might be difficult to employ, giving them the necessary skills to allow them to be satisfactory regular full-time employees,” according to the corps’ website.
Assessor’s parcel records show that the second floor of the building, which houses businesses such as Drapoel, Heaven Scent and Blak Sage Gallery, was used as a boarding house until 1957, when it was condemned primarily because of electrical and plumbing issues.
Now owned by Jim and Deborah Wood, who operate Drapoel and rent to the other businesses, the building is listed as a contributed building in the Downtown National Historic District.
The RDA has proposed spending $11,000 on pre-development studies, including a structural analysis, code analysis and hazardous materials assessment in advance of any potential rehabilitation work on the building.
The city has delayed approval of the funding as it awaits the fate of Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposal to eliminate redevelopment agencies in California. The city did, however, approve the concept of setting up contracts with the project’s other potential development partners. If RDAs are spared, officials hope to gain approval for the studies in an effort to spur development in one of the many vacant buildings downtown.
“We’re aware that sometimes the rehabilitation of a building can be more expensive than new construction,” Paxton said. “This is a way to help bring down those costs. We’re still in the preliminary stages, so the first step is to collect information about whether it’s even feasible.”
Bordered by the Shelton Building to the north, AJ Sushi to the south and McKinnon Lumber to the east, the building has a second floor with a “kind of curious” setup, according to Paxton. It features a ring of rooms around the edge of the building, with an inner cluster of boarding rooms under a central skylight.
Jim Wood said he and his wife purchased the building about 10 years ago for approximately $500,000 and recently had it appraised for $400,000.
“I’ve always wanted to do something nice up there, like lofts or some moderate-income residents and office space,” he said.
Asked if he had plans to rehab the building if the RDA funding doesn’t pan out, Wood said he “would if I could get the building to appraise for enough. If I could get the funding for it, I’d do it.”
If the RDA does provide funding assistance, the Woods would be restricted on the amount of rent they could charge. The building owners have expressed a preference for leasing the affordable units to artists, Paxton noted.
“We have to make sure we’re compliant with equal opportunity housing rules,” she said, “though there can be a program with preferences.”
Wood called it a “nice building that’s uniquely architectured.
“We’ve painted it and put a new roof on it,” he said. “It would be nice to have people upstairs at night. There’s no reason Hollister can’t be as quaint as Willow Glen or Los Gatos. And we have more history than them.”
The city is “in a little bit of a holding pattern” as the future of RDA’s is sorted out, Paxton said. “We’re not going to do anything until we know more clearly whether or not we’ll be an agency.”
The idea of rehabilitating vacant portions of a building fits in with a central goal of redevelopment as well as the city’s general plan, according to Paxton.
“Our general plan calls for mixed uses downtown with restaurants and shops,” she said. “This project would put more foot traffic downtown and it’s consistent with reusing existing buildings to make the footprint of the urban-scape more compact. It’s conceivable somebody could live there and not have to own a car” to utilize the services they need.
