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E-mail StoryDevelopers have lofty goal
Buyers already on list to live in Hay Building
| Saturday, Oct 6 2007 10:09 PM
Last Updated: Saturday, Oct 6 2007 10:09 PM
Some nights, Don Martin stands in the gutted third-floor offices of downtown Bakersfield’s Hay Building and admires the view.
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The downtown Hay Building at 19th and Eye streets is going through some major renovations.
They Hay Building at 19th and Eye streets.
The downtown Hay Building at 19th and Eye streets is going through a major renovation.
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He can see the lights of the Fox Theater from there, and he can imagine what the space might look like as a sleek urban loft.
Martin, who runs Metro Galleries on the Hay Building’s ground floor, plans to buy one of nine condo units slated to transform the historically commercial structure into 1612 City Lofts. Renderings call for a community terrace and for loft-dwellers to co-exist with the retail tenants below.
The airy loft concept, as well as the combination of retail and residential tenants in one building, may be commonplace in land-strapped West Coast cities like San Diego and San Francisco. But in Bakersfield, the idea that people will choose downtown condos over the suburban, single-family home remains untested.
“That will be a real interesting, pioneering effort for Bakersfield,” said Greg Petrini, a local builder. “The standard Bakersfield resident is not accustomed to flats.”
Petrini should know. He and his brother, Mike Petrini, are partnering with the city to build Parkview Cottages, a redevelopment project for median-income earners near Bakersfield’s Central Park. At first, some potential buyers assumed the smaller lots and central locale meant the cottages must be rentals, Petrini said.
And local developers rarely convert office buildings into residences. Property owners turned commercial space into rental apartments above Weber Insurance on 18th Street, said Donna Kunz, Bakersfield’s economic development director. But the City Lofts project will be the first to sell units in a converted building.
Success at the corner of 19th and Eye streets, where the Hay Building stands, could draw more people downtown and spur revitalization, city planners and boosters say.
The project’s backers include Martin, who is marketing the units, and co-owners Eric Jencks, a San Diego-based developer who was involved with the ill-fated attempt to revive the Padre Hotel, and Eydie Gibson, a local real estate agent.
“They’re out there pushing ahead,” said Jim Eggert, Bakersfield’s assistant planning director. “They’re a very enthusiastic group.”
Downtown housing projects are scarce, even though the city has permitted residential development in the core for the past 12 to 15 years, he said.
“We’ve always supported it,” Eggert said. “It’s just hard for private developers to feel like it’s worth doing.”
But Gibson is confident Bakersfield has a pent-up demand for downtown, urban living options. She and Jencks plan for 1612 City Lofts to be move-in ready by February, even as the residential real estate market spirals downward.
“If it was in the suburbs, I’d shut it down for a couple of years,” Gibson said. “But when there’s every indication there’s no supply and you have a demand, there’s reason to go forward.”
Gibson expects the lofts will appeal to young singles and couples, as well as baby boomers whose kids have left home. The idea of developing a residential project downtown has been in the back of her mind for 20 years, Gibson said. And as her own children grew up and left the nest, she and her husband found themselves increasingly drawn to downtown’s boutiques and businesses.
Gibson and Jencks bought the Hay Building two years ago. Gibson would not say how much they paid. The taxable value of the property is $459,000, according to First American Real Estate Solutions, a data company. Nor would Gibson disclose renovation costs. But she said transforming the Hay Building, which requires asbestos removal and earthquake retrofitting, “takes more money than you think it would.”
Parking is another challenge. The group has secured parking spaces in the city-run garage at the corner of 18th and Eye Streets. The deck is close, but might take a mental shift for someone accustomed to a driveway and attached garage.
Final prices have yet to be set for the condos, but they will likely run from the high $100,000s to a little more than $300,000, and range in size from 700 to 1,360 square feet, Martin said. The price per square foot will be around $200, he said.
Economies of scale mean smaller homes usually command a higher price per square foot, said Mike Launer, a Bakersfield appraiser who specializes in new construction. But buyers can get a new house for less, according to a recent survey Launer conducted.
For Barry Hayes, a 25-year-old U.S. history teacher at Fred L. Thompson Junior High School, the architectural style, details — condos will include green features, such as recycled glass and palm flooring — and central location of 1612 City Lofts are all worth any added cost. Hayes has already put his name on a 1612 City Lofts interest list and prequalified for a home loan.
He likes the atmosphere in downtowns such as those in San Luis Obispo and Pasadena, and senses Bakersfield may be creeping toward a similar vibe. Buying now makes sense, he said.
“I think we’re catching the cutting-edge crest of Bakersfield,” Hayes said.
Hayes, who grew up in Bakersfield, left for college and returned, said his return makes him an exception among his social circle.
“All of my hippest friends left,” he said.
But a vibrant downtown could keep more talented young people in their hometown, Hayes said.
“People that are young and are looking for a downtown lifestyle — there’s a lot of appeal to that,” he said.
A downtown lifestyle is the same thing attracting Jan Bans to the project. A 44-year-old single mom, Bans plans to buy a City Lofts condo if her daughter sticks to her plan to leave town for college.
“I just kind of like the energy you get from a downtown location,” Bans said. “I feed off that energy. I love the lights of the Fox Theater, the conversations of people passing.”
The proximity of nearby bars, which might be a deterrent to some, is unlikely to trouble Bans. When she goes to San Francisco and stays on Union Square, she sleeps with the windows open. The age of the building, which started as a general merchandise store in 1893, is also a plus.
“I love the history of the building,” Bans said. “And kind of the modern twist that will be built in against the contrast of the original architecture.”
The Hay Building is just a stone’s throw away from another historic Bakersfield structure with condo aspirations, the 72,800-square-foot Padre Hotel. Owner Pacifica Enterprises halted renovation after five years and an asbestos lawsuit. The building is for sale for $5.6 million by Hendricks & Partners, a national company headquartered in Phoenix.
The smaller City Lofts project may prove more manageable, Kunz said. And the city is investing money in the area, using redevelopment funds to spruce up the intersection with plants and colorful concrete designs. The street improvements should start in April.
“I’m very excited,” said City Councilwoman Sue Benham, whose ward includes downtown. “The city has worked to make the zoning to allow this loft housing.”
Jan Solomon, a designer with Solomon Interior Design Inc., the Solana Beach architecture and design firm working on 1612 City Lofts, said Bakersfield’s downtown is similar to San Diego’s 10 years ago.
With its old, iconic buildings, it may actually have more potential, Solomon said. She hopes lofts at the Hay Building lead to the rebirth of other old buildings as mixed-use spaces.
“I’m hoping that’s going to be the spark that ignites people to do more projects,” Solomon said.