Tires to trendy - $6 million metamorphosis
By Bob Shallit - Bee Columnist
Published 12:00 am PDT Saturday, August 4, 2007
After three years of planning, owners of downtown's Firestone Building are set to begin a $6 million conversion of the iconic structure into an entertainment complex. Tenants will be the area's first Fleming's Prime Steakhouse, California Pizza Kitchen, DeVere's Irish Pub and, upstairs, a lounge operated by the owners of Mason's Restaurant.
"I really think this notches up the quality of design downtown and takes us a step closer to being a 24-hour city," says Ken Fahn, whose Metro Properties is teaming up with Mark Cordano and the Wurster family on the project, located at the prominent intersection of 16th and L streets. The partners asked project designer Vrilakas Architects to preserve the historic Art Deco look of the building, which was occupied by a Firestone tire sales operation from 1929 until 2004.
Some of the building's distinctive terra cotta columns will remain, along with the ornamental Gladding McBean clay tiles that run along the exterior. The existing covered parking area, where the tire company's customers drove in, will be enclosed by glass.
That prime 5,800-square-foot corner site will be occupied by the gourmet pizza chain. Fleming's will take 6,700 feet on the building's 16th Street side. And DeVere's pub, which will be operated by UCD Cancer Center Director Ralph deVere White and his sons, will move into 3,700 feet on the L street side. Mason Wong says his family's 7,400-foot space upstairs will be a place "to go for great wine, a martini and small plates," along with live music.
The Fahn-Cordano-Wurster team started working on the project three years ago. Removal of asbestos and underground tanks caused delays. They also had some false starts in determining the building's best use, at one point trying to include apartments or condos. But, Cordano says, "city money for that just wasn't available."
Now the project -- to be called "The Firestone" -- is going forward as a pure entertainment destination with no city subsidies, the developers say. Plans are to begin construction this fall with a grand opening by early 2009.
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