Phillip
May 15, 2007, 3:11 AM
Tomorrow evening the Davis City Council will consider whether the owner of the Anderson Building at 2nd and G should be allowed to lower his windows. The owner claims the high windows make it difficult for him to rent the ground floor for retail. (Although the space is now occupied by a futon store.) The Davis Historical Resources Management Commission disagrees, maintaining the high windows are an integral feature of an historically significant building.
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Here are the two south facing windows. There are two similar windows on the east facing side of this corner building.
http://img503.imageshack.us/img503/4312/img0183tj6.jpg
http://img503.imageshack.us/img503/4971/img0180lv5.jpg
http://img503.imageshack.us/img503/6629/img0177uu9.jpg
And here's the story from the Davis Enterprise:
Anderson debate gives window into Davis retail
By Claire St. John/Enterprise staff writer
Davis Enterprise, May 13, 2007
Jim Kidd, co-owner of Davis' historic Anderson Bank building at 203 G St., has said for years the building's high windows are a detriment to retail business.
But the building's windows are integral to the building's historical status, and to change them significantly would “cause a substantial adverse change in the building's significance,” according to an environmental report commissioned by the city.
The City Council will make a final decision on whether the windows can be altered at its meeting Tuesday night, but a staff report advises the council against making any changes. The city's Historical Resources Management Commission agreed.
Kidd said if the City Council won't allow the changes, he'll go to the voters by putting a measure on the ballot.
“It'll cost me something like $75,000, but that's what I'm willing to do,” he said.
Kidd has been lobbying the council to approve bigger windows, planting signs around the downtown area that read “Better Windows/Better Retail/Better Downtown. Lower the Anderson Building Windows. KEEP OUR DOWNTOWN VITAL.”
Signed “Citizens and Merchants who Care About Davis,” the sign is to let the City Council know that the high windows not only hurts retail inside the Anderson Bank building, but the downtown as a whole, Kidd said.
“An empty storefront or a lack of display windows discourages shoppers and has a negative ripple effect on surrounding merchants,” Kidd wrote.
Twenty-nine downtown business owners signed a petition to alter the windows, and Kidd forwarded the City Council a string of letters from retailers who expressed interest in locating at the bank building if it wasn't for the high windows.
“The current building is not suitable to ‘typical' retail, as it does not provide enough window display...” wrote GT Retail Services President Jason Gallelli in 2002. “However, the location is excellent.”
The Naturalist, Cold Stone Creamery, Baja Fresh Mexican Grill, Birkenstock Plus and Mother and Baby Source have all considered occupying 203 G St. in the past, but turned it down because of the windows.
“It's time that (the City Council) realize in the downtown we have to be business oriented and less concerned about the history or we'll drive all our customers to Target,” Kidd said.
Kidd said he wants the four existing arched windows - two on the east side and two on the south side of the building - to allow passers-by to better see inside by cutting below the windows' five-foot high sill.
The council will consider three options: One, leave the windows as they are; two, cut away the sills to enlarge the windows; or three, cut separate window panels below the existing windows, creating four new, lower windows below the high arched windows.
If the council does approve a change, staff recommends cutting separate openings below the existing windows and preserving the sills and ornamental panels which are “character-defining features,” according to the staff report.
Cutting away the panels and sills could disqualify the building for historic status, staff wrote, and the building “could be demolished and replaced with another building and one of the 16 city landmark buildings will be lost.”
Changing the windows, staff wrote, could lose the city one of its few remaining historic resources, which isn't worth the potential economic gain from a more successful retailer.
The City Council will wrangle with another historic structure in upcoming months when it considers whether to move a historic tank house on Second Street to make way for a three-story building that would house a coffee shop on the ground floor and offices and living units on the second and third floors.
http://img503.imageshack.us/img503/2774/img0178kk3.jpg
Here are the two south facing windows. There are two similar windows on the east facing side of this corner building.
http://img503.imageshack.us/img503/4312/img0183tj6.jpg
http://img503.imageshack.us/img503/4971/img0180lv5.jpg
http://img503.imageshack.us/img503/6629/img0177uu9.jpg
And here's the story from the Davis Enterprise:
Anderson debate gives window into Davis retail
By Claire St. John/Enterprise staff writer
Davis Enterprise, May 13, 2007
Jim Kidd, co-owner of Davis' historic Anderson Bank building at 203 G St., has said for years the building's high windows are a detriment to retail business.
But the building's windows are integral to the building's historical status, and to change them significantly would “cause a substantial adverse change in the building's significance,” according to an environmental report commissioned by the city.
The City Council will make a final decision on whether the windows can be altered at its meeting Tuesday night, but a staff report advises the council against making any changes. The city's Historical Resources Management Commission agreed.
Kidd said if the City Council won't allow the changes, he'll go to the voters by putting a measure on the ballot.
“It'll cost me something like $75,000, but that's what I'm willing to do,” he said.
Kidd has been lobbying the council to approve bigger windows, planting signs around the downtown area that read “Better Windows/Better Retail/Better Downtown. Lower the Anderson Building Windows. KEEP OUR DOWNTOWN VITAL.”
Signed “Citizens and Merchants who Care About Davis,” the sign is to let the City Council know that the high windows not only hurts retail inside the Anderson Bank building, but the downtown as a whole, Kidd said.
“An empty storefront or a lack of display windows discourages shoppers and has a negative ripple effect on surrounding merchants,” Kidd wrote.
Twenty-nine downtown business owners signed a petition to alter the windows, and Kidd forwarded the City Council a string of letters from retailers who expressed interest in locating at the bank building if it wasn't for the high windows.
“The current building is not suitable to ‘typical' retail, as it does not provide enough window display...” wrote GT Retail Services President Jason Gallelli in 2002. “However, the location is excellent.”
The Naturalist, Cold Stone Creamery, Baja Fresh Mexican Grill, Birkenstock Plus and Mother and Baby Source have all considered occupying 203 G St. in the past, but turned it down because of the windows.
“It's time that (the City Council) realize in the downtown we have to be business oriented and less concerned about the history or we'll drive all our customers to Target,” Kidd said.
Kidd said he wants the four existing arched windows - two on the east side and two on the south side of the building - to allow passers-by to better see inside by cutting below the windows' five-foot high sill.
The council will consider three options: One, leave the windows as they are; two, cut away the sills to enlarge the windows; or three, cut separate window panels below the existing windows, creating four new, lower windows below the high arched windows.
If the council does approve a change, staff recommends cutting separate openings below the existing windows and preserving the sills and ornamental panels which are “character-defining features,” according to the staff report.
Cutting away the panels and sills could disqualify the building for historic status, staff wrote, and the building “could be demolished and replaced with another building and one of the 16 city landmark buildings will be lost.”
Changing the windows, staff wrote, could lose the city one of its few remaining historic resources, which isn't worth the potential economic gain from a more successful retailer.
The City Council will wrangle with another historic structure in upcoming months when it considers whether to move a historic tank house on Second Street to make way for a three-story building that would house a coffee shop on the ground floor and offices and living units on the second and third floors.