GILROY
– What next for Old City Hall?
With the help of a consultant’s report, that’s the question City
Council considered Monday night as they search for a way to keep
the landmark downtown building full, active and as inexpensive to
run as possible now that a major Gavilan College venture there has
ended.
GILROY – What next for Old City Hall?
With the help of a consultant’s report, that’s the question City Council considered Monday night as they search for a way to keep the landmark downtown building full, active and as inexpensive to run as possible now that a major Gavilan College venture there has ended.
Concepts discussed during the study session at City Hall included everything from a partial police station and city offices to a visitors’ welcome center – and one Councilman even asked if the city should sell the structure.
But while nothing is set in stone, several Councilmembers seemed to agree during a study session Monday that a mixed-use facility – with as little city overhead as possible – is the probably the best model for the old building.
What shape that model will take is unclear, but Council gave city staff the go-ahead Monday to start discussions and research with several parties who are reportedly interested in using parts of the historic building, who range from the city’s Visitors Bureau to a Carmel Valley-based hospitality company.
“We can put (them) on a scale and balance it and see which comes to the top,” said Councilman Al Pinheiro.
The unique and stately 1905 Baroque and Mission Revival-style building at Monterey and Sixth streets is seen by many as a cornerstone of Gilroy’s downtown area and a major part of its image. Images of the structure and its large, distinctive clock tower are used on everything from tourist Web sites to city stationary.
However, keeping an ongoing presence in the structure has been somewhat of a struggle.
Monday’s discussion came after Gavilan College’s lease for the building expired Nov. 1.
The college had landed a $400,000 grant from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development meant to help prompt several “incubator” businesses. Money provided by the grant paid rent on the building, which was then sublet at reduced rates to small businesses such as the Wild Rose House of Taste restaurant, the Gallery of Flowers floral shop and a tamale business.
Utilities and general upkeep currently cost the city up to $5,000 a month. When the building is relatively empty, the city also loses out on as much as $40,000 in annual revenue. It also requires staff time to manage and attract new tenants. The building has also housed several restaurants, theater productions and a combination dinner theater in the course of the last decade. It was damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake but repaired after the city received a $1.5 million federal grant.
While the Gavilan program is over, the school used some remaining grant money to hire San Jose-based AMH Consultants to examine the building’s advantages and disadvantages, historic uses and some potential options for the future.
The building’s strengths include its proximity to the downtown core and public transit, office space and recent interior renovations, a large commercial kitchen, disabled access and Internet hookups, said AMH’s Ernest Guzman.
Issues include high maintenance costs, energy inefficiency, a small amount of dedicated parking, sidewalk disrepair and a perception of a high business failure rate for tenants, he said.
The study identifies four potential use options for the building.
A community cultural center could include space for performances, community meetings and retreats, plus Gavilan College culinary classes, a restaurant and a visitors bureau welcome center with tourist information.
A business incubator could include office space for consultants and trainers as well as the city’s downtown association and economic development corporation, social services agency Mujeres Pueden, a coffee or juice bar and Gav culinary classes.
A city service center concept could feature the Gilroy Police Department’s community outreach office, parks and recreation staff and other city offices, catering and a juice or coffee bar.
A fourth option for a mixed-use project would include fair-market rentals for private enterprise such as offices and restaurants/catering with little government management.
“No one entity can keep this going by itself …” Guzman said. “There has to be a series of strategic partnerships to make this building work.”
City officials feel a multi-use strategy has the best chance of success as long as it strives to meet community values identified in the report, City Administrator Jay Baksa told the consultants. And that strategy should also include as little city management overhead as possible, Baksa said. The city currently faces local and state revenue drops that could hack millions from its operating budget.
“We have to get creative,” he said. “We can’t afford (city) staff to manage the building.”
When discussion shifted to Council, Councilman Bob Dillon asked the question few want to hear.
“Have you considered there is no long-term viability?” he asked.
But while the city could technically sell the building and retain a historic easement, selling the structure is considered a last resort, officials said.
“I don’t think it’s the sale of the property, it’s finding the right use of the building,” Baksa said.
Councilman Charlie Morales said the cultural center option is attractive because of its pedestrian-friendly location and appeal to downtown visitors. While consultants were touring the building, several people reportedly walked in because they thought it was a visitors’ bureau.
Councilman Al Pinheiro said the perfect scenario is to find a private multi-use concept that would produce income to support itself but bolster the surrounding downtown area because of activity and presence it would bring.
A public multi-use concept would be tougher because of the potential to lose funding, he said – such as the end of Gavilan’s grant.
Councilman Peter Arellano said the center should be self-supporting.
“It has to run on its own,” he said. “If it breaks even, we’re happy.”
Mayor Tom Springer also liked the mixed-use concept, especially one that includes community use, a restaurant to generate activity and facilities for the city’s Visitors Bureau and downtown association.
“If anything is done in downtown, it should be around that building, not in spite of it,” he said.
But after seeing so many proposals and occupants come and go over the years, he doubted the building will ever pay for itself.
“I don’t think we’ll ever see the option come to us where it will self-sustain itself,” he said.
