City agrees to pay $340,000 for two properties; total spent on
facility land at $1.8 million
Gilroy – The city has agreed to pay $340,000 for two Seventh Street properties needed to complete the future arts center, bringing the total amount spent on land for the downtown facility to nearly $1.8 million.
The price represents $30,000 more than originally offered in April 2003 to the Oyao family for their neighboring parcels at 57 and 67 W. Seventh Street. A state-appointed appraiser set the sale price on the .2 acres of land and two homes. The settlement means the city will avoid resorting to eminent domain to seize the property, which lies directly on the spot slated for the arts center auditorium.
“I think the estate is happy with the purchase agreement,” family attorney James Simoni said. “They seem satisfied.”
He added, however, that the release of the funds remain “in limbo” as long as a relative of former owner Baleriana Oyao, who died in July 2004, lives at the property. City officials have given Oyao’s grandson Francisco 90 days to leave the property, according to Simoni.
An earlier city proposal offered $50,000 to help relocate Francisco Oyao, a 56-year-old disabled veteran. Oyao said the city has indicated it will still help him move.
“I just don’t know how much,” he said. “Hopefully it will be a nice amount of money so I can buy a new place.”
City officials also are on the verge of settling with Loi Dong, who previously rejected an offer of $97,000 for his boarded up Chinese food restaurant at 7347 Monterey Street. Dong’s appraiser has valued the property, slated for an art gallery and garden, at more than $300,000.
City Administrator Jay Baksa could not specify the price range, but expected a final agreement to come before City Council by September.
It appears the city has avoided having to seize the Dong and Oyao properties, but the vast majority of land still needed for the art center may require a judge’s order.
Marko Gera, who owns two storefronts on Monterey Street and the bulk of vacant land along Eigleberry Street that will provide parking for the arts center, has so far refused to settle with the city.
“It looks as though that one is still in negotiation,” Baksa said. “They’ve got to talk it out with the attorneys, but we may have to go to court on that one.”
With the Dong and Oyao settlements, the city will have reached agreement with four of the five landowners who own property needed for the future arts center.
The city paid $300,000 in July 2004 to purchase the Mexican restaurant on the corner of Monterey and Seventh streets. The .17-acre property sits on the northwest corner of the intersection. In December, the city settled on a $1.15-million sale price to buy the adjacent Salvation Army thrift store, at 7341 Monterey Street.
In total, the arts center plans call for the purchase of 14 separate lots measuring 2. 33 acres between Eigleberry and Monterey streets. A lawsuit with the Gera family could delay construction and increase expenses for the project, scheduled for completion by 2008 and expected to cost more than $10-million.
Land buys
The city has purchased four of
14 properties:
• In July 2004 – George Benson, 7301 Monterey St. for $300,000
• In December 2004 – Salvation Army, 7341 Monterey St. for $1,150,000
• In August 2005 – Benjamin Oyao, 57 and 67 W. Seventh St. for $340,000*
Grand Total: $1,790,000
*sale pending
