Old Union Bank is for sale, but whether buyer is private
investor or city remains to be seen
With one of downtown’s historical gems up for sale, the city is
looking to become a landlord, but who will end up owning the old
Union Bank Building remains to be seen.
Old Union Bank is for sale, but whether buyer is private investor or city remains to be seen
With one of downtown’s historical gems up for sale, the city is looking to become a landlord, but who will end up owning the old Union Bank Building remains to be seen.
Built in 1927 and originally called the Holland Hotel, the building was bought by Union Bank sometime in the early 1960s. A few doctors rented space on the second for a time, but the upper three floors have been vacant for at least 20 years.
Now the city’s redevelopment agency, the Hollister Downtown Association and the San Benito County Historical Society have all voiced an interest in what happens next.
The vacant building should be renovated, they agree, but should the city buy it or a private buyer? The listing price is around $500,000.
“Personally, I would like to see the city purchase the building. To fix up a building like that you’re looking at a million and a half,” said HDA President Ignacio Velasquez. “A private purchaser could wind up going bankrupt. If the city doesn’t buy the building, the upper floors are going to be vacant for another 20 years.”
Once a private buyer realizes what is involved, they will end up renting the first floor, which would prevent renovation of the upper floors, he said. There’s simply too much work that has to be done, he said.
Asbestos needs to be removed, the building requires a seismic retrofit, a sprinkler system has to be installed, along with a new heating and electrical system, new plumbing, new electrical wiring, new insulation, an elevator and a new fire exit. All this would have to be done simply to bring the building up to code, he said.
“They realized how expensive it is to do a renovation like that,” Velasquez said of the bank.
Using the upper floor for anything besides office space or as a hotel would be impractical, he said. Any residential units would end up being too small and there would be too few of them, he said. As for the remaining two options, the building moratorium comes into play, he said.
The building could be converted to office space now, because the sewer hookups are already in place, he said. At full capacity, an office building could bring in 90 employees, he said.
“We mainly want more foot traffic in the downtown,” he said of the HDA’s members.
Reverting the building back to a hotel would likely mean the upper floors could not reopen until the moratorium ends as the code requirements are different, he said.
For their part, RDA officials have been authorized to begin negotiations on the building by the City Council, according to RDA Manager William Avera.
“There’s a lot of potential there. The top three floors are basically untouched. What would be nice is if we could locate some pictures of what it used to look like. Really, it could be anything,”
RDA officials are thinking of having a combination of retail and office space, he said. One of the things the RDA could do is renovate it, then take requests for proposals from developers, and spin the building off, he said.
“It’s probably safe to say there are 15 parties looking at that building,” he said. “It’s always been a project that we were looking at. I think we approached the bank on doing something upstairs and they just weren’t interested.”
As soon as Avera learned the building was up for sale, he talked with City Manager George Lewis about what the RDA could do. The only potential hang up is if the RDA’s own assessor comes up with a fair market value less than what the bank is asking, then the RDA is not allowed to pay more, according to its bylaws. Councilman Brian Conroy wants the RDA to get the building.
“If you’re going to have an RDA, this is what it should be used for,” Conroy said. “I think this building has a future. There’s a lot of stores that are vacant right now.”
The historical society just wants the building to come back to life.
“Well, I definitely would like it restored properly,” said Janet Brians, who sits on the society’s board of directors.
Brians said Tim Lantz, a Hollister historical preservationist and contractor would be the perfect person work on it.
“We have heard Tim Lantz is a possibility for restoration. I haven’t heard all the details, I’ve just heard he’s interested in the project,” she said.
Lantz could not be reached for comment, but Brians said more details would emerge on his interest at the society’s next meeting a week from now.
