Dormant buildings in the heart of downtown, their windows
covered with the likes of brown paper and realtor solicitations,
have become as common in Hollister as Harleys on a sunny weekend
morning.
Dormant buildings in the heart of downtown, their windows covered with the likes of brown paper and realtor solicitations, have become as common in Hollister as Harleys on a sunny weekend morning.
City officials, businesses and organizations won’t deny the problem. Hollister’s downtown has an unusually high number of building vacancies. And no one seems to have a clear solution.
“All the vacancies are right smack in the middle of downtown,” said Jeff Welch, vice president of the Hollister Downtown Association.
The HDA does not currently maintain a list or number of the vacancies, according to executive director Liz Kresky. But she and Rick Maddux, the HDA’s head of economic restructuring, plan to take inventory of the empty buildings next week.
“We want to point prospective businesses toward specific places,” Maddux said.
Several vacancies around the intersection of Fifth and San Benito streets are more apparent because of their prime locations. Most glaring of all, according to Redevelopment Agency Director Bill Avera, is a building at that intersection that’s been empty since Oct. 18, when former tenant Union Bank of California moved to the Nob Hill shopping center on Airline Highway.
The historic four-story structure – built as the Pendergrass Hotel in 1927 – was recently appraised at $495,000. The RDA had previously expressed a desire to buy downtown’s tallest building and resell its individual levels. But when the time came to submit a formal offer, the RDA decided to pass.
Adding to the problem, the RDA – which works to improve the infrastructure and aesthetics of downtown – faces the potential for significant cuts this year because of the state budget crisis.
“State proposals will affect every single project the RDA will be involved with… We’re definitely in jeopardy,” Avera said. “It’s a hard time right now.”
Across the street from the old Pendergrass Hotel sits another empty downtown anchor – the space previously owned by Temptations Boutique. Two other, neighboring spaces remain empty one block south, in the 400 block of San Benito Street.
The space at 427 San Benito is for sale by Ram Real Estate. Catherine Freeman, a Realtor relatively new to Hollister, has handled the account for the past three months. She’s also selling one other downtown business space on Fourth Street.
Before Freeman took over the two accounts, the previous agent also experienced difficulty drawing buyer interest, she said.
“The economy, in my opinion, plays a big part,” Freeman said.
Most officials also blame a large part of the difficulty to attract businesses to the downtown area on wider economic problems throughout the state.
“It’s not just a Hollister issue,” Avera said. “It’s just part of that cycle.”
Al Martinez, director of the Economic Development Corp., said the city’s struggling economy is “replicating” the region’s problems.
About a year ago, Martinez approached a consulting firm to analyze Hollister’s businesses and identify “gaps.” The firm would then have presented a plan to attract specific types of businesses Hollister currently lacks. But the financial support citywide just wasn’t there at the time, Martinez said. And it’s not there now.
“Budget issues are a killer,” Martinez said. “It’s too expensive.”
Martinez lives in Salinas and said the image of its downtown has vastly improved in the past couple of years because of projects and lodging.
He expressed optimism for Hollister, though, citing the recently opened Frank T. Klauer Memorial Building at Seventh and San Benito streets, which is occupied by 10 office spaces, the San Benito County Chamber of Commerce and several businesses.
Martinez said two spaces previously vacant in the 500 block of San Benito Street – formerly Bob’s Video and Hollister Books – are now occupied. Sandman, a business that specializes in glass staining, moved into one of the locations. Owner Mike Thompson said his business especially tailors to Harley-Davidson and other motorcycle-related designs.
His reasoning for choosing a downtown location was simple.
“Because it’s Main Street,” he said of the area often saturated with motorcycles. “It’s a good location for what I do.”
Thompson didn’t seem deterred by the flush of vacancies, but owners of long-established businesses such as Dorothy McNett agree that more shopping-induced foot traffic downtown means better business for them.
“We’re all in this together,” McNett said. “We’re trying to help one another. The more people we have working together, the better downtown will be.”
