Title
PLN24-0529 - 1325 Park Street - Certificate of Approval - Applicant: Yung Chen. Public hearing to consider a Certificate of Approval to allow modifications to an existing commercial storefront in the Park Street Commercial Historic District. The project includes the remodeling of an existing retail storefront into a full-service restaurant and tavern use with extended hours of operation. The proposed exterior improvements include new storefront windows and the addition of a new emergency exit door to bring the building into compliance with current building code requirements. A separate public notice will be issued for the Design Review and Use Permit when they are scheduled. General Plan: Community Mixed Use. Zoning: C-C-T, Community Commercial - Theater Combining District. Environmental Determination: This project is categorically exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) as a Class 1 categorical exemption (Minor Alterations to an Existing Structure) and a Class 31 categorical exemption (Historical Rehabilitation Consistent with the Secretary of the Interior's Guidelines for the Treatment of Historic Properties, and no additional environmental review is necessary.
Body
To: Honorable Chair and Members of the Historical Advisory Board
From: Steven Buckley, Historical Advisory Board Secretary
BACKGROUND
The proposed project consists of remodeling an existing retail storefront at 1325 Park Street into full-service restaurant with bar. Proposed exterior improvements (Exhibit 1 - Project Plans) include new storefront windows and the addition of a new emergency exit door to bring the building into compliance with current building code requirements for egress. The existing tile bulkhead will be retained except on the left edge of the fa?ade where the new secondary egress door will be constructed. The subject property is a contributing structure to the Park Street Historic District.
Pursuant to Alameda Municipal Code (AMC) 13-21.5.b.1, the "Historical Advisory Board shall determine whether to issue a certificate of approval for repairs and alterations of Historical Monuments, with or without conditions of approval, based on whether plans and specifications meet the standards established by the Historical Advisory Board and the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation (SOI Standards) and guidelines for rehabilitating historic buildings." This includes exterior changes to contributing structures in a historic district.
DISCUSSION
Property History
1325 Park Street is a one-story brick-parapet Victorian building on the south side of the Old Masonic Temple at the southwest corner of Park Street and Alameda Avenue (Exhibit 2 - Photos). The property was purchased in 1891 by San Fracisco real estate investor and Alameda resident Daniel L. Randolph. Randolph hired architect George A. Dodge of the Joseph A. Leonard Company, a prolific Alameda design and building firm. The building was originally constructed in 1892 as a two-story building. The materials and design were similar to the adjacent Masonic Temple, including use of brick, granite, sandstone and terra cotta. The building was constructed without its own north wall, constructed flush against the Masonic Temple's south wall. The original second story included arched windows that were demolished, likely in 1929 based on historical building permit records, and bricked in to form the current parapet. (Exhibit 3 - State DPR Form)
Consistency with the Secretary of the Interior's Standards
"Rehabilitation" is defined as "the process of returning a property to a state of utility, through repair or alteration, which makes possible an efficient contemporary use while preserving those portions and features of the property which are significant to its historic, architectural, and cultural values." Overall, the project is consistent with the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for rehabilitating historic storefronts. The attached resolution (Exhibit 4) suggests the following findings of consistency with the SOI Standards:
1. A property will be used as it was historically or be given a new use that requires minimal change to its distinctive materials, features, spaces, and spatial relationships.
The building has been traditionally used for commercial retail. The proposed restaurant use is consistent with these historic uses and is compatible with the existing eating establishments in the vicinity. The proposed new use will facilitate reinvestment into and preservation of the distinctive materials, features, spaces and spatial relationships of the building. The improvements include new operable storefront windows replacing the existing previously altered windows, and a new recessed egress doorway to meet current building and fire code requirements. The improvements are designed to minimize impact to the existing tile bulkhead to the greatest extent feasible.
2. The historic character of a property will be retained and preserved. The removal of distinctive materials or alteration of features, spaces, and spatial relationships that characterize a property shall be voided.
The project proposes to maintain the distinctive features of the building that contribute to the historic character of the property. The brick fa?ade, clerestory windows, waffle-pattern frieze panels of terra cotta, granite bases on end piers and sandstone trim are all being preserved. The existing tile bulkhead is being preserved to the maximum extent feasible. Overall, the historic character of the property will be retained and preserved.
3. Each property will be recognized as a physical record of its time place, and use. Changes that create a false sense of historical development, such as adding conjectural features or elements from other historic properties, will not be undertaken.
The proposed modifications to the building are modest in scale. By keeping the maximum amount of original materials and elements possible while meeting current building code requirements, the original sense of the building's construction will continue to be conveyed. The window replacement does not alter the character in a meaningful way, considering that the aluminum windows now in place were a previous alteration. There is no known record of the original windows, but the wood sliders would be similar to those on the adjacent Masonic building.
4. Most properties change over time; those changes that have acquired historic significance in their own right shall be retained and preserved.
The primary change to the building since its construction was the removal a century ago of the second floor which contained professional offices. The second story arched windows were removed, and the bottom portion of the windows were bricked in with a new brick molding added to the top. Jagged remnants of the upper-story walls remain beyond the current parapet. The storefront windows have likely changed multiple times over the life of the building. The proposed storefront windows retain the general outer dimensions of the existing windows except for where a new egress doorway has been included at the left edge of the fa?ade to comply with current building code requirements. The recessed entry and bulkhead will also be preserved except to accommodate the new secondary exit doorway.
5. Distinctive features, finishes, and construction techniques or examples of craftsmanship that characterize a property shall be preserved.
The project does not significantly change the distinctive materials and features of the building except as needed to comply with current building code requirements. This approval requires the applicant to restore, refurbish or reuse the original materials to the maximum extent feasible. If any of the original materials are deteriorated beyond repair, new work is required to incorporate materials that match the original. The brick fa?ade, clerestory windows, waffle-pattern frieze panels of terra cotta, granite bases on end piers and sandstone trim are all being preserved. The existing tile bulkhead is being preserved to the maximum extent feasible. If any materials are deteriorated beyond repair, the applicant will incorporate new materials that are consistent with the original.
6. Deteriorated historic features will be repaired rather than replaced. Where the severity of deterioration requires replacement of distinctive feature, the new feature will match the old in design, color, texture, and, where possible, materials. Replacement of missing features will be substantiated by documentary and physical evidence.
The project does not significantly change the historic features of the building except as needed to comply with current building code requirements. This approval requires the applicant to restore, refurbish or reuse the original materials to the maximum extent feasible. If any of the original materials are deteriorated beyond repair, new work is required to incorporate materials that match the original.
7. Chemical or physical treatments, if appropriate, will be undertaken using the gentlest means possible. Treatments that cause damage to historic materials will not be used.
The project will be conditioned to utilize the gentlest chemical or physical treatments as a first response to maintenance issues.
8. Significant archeological resources affected by a project shall be protected and preserved. If such resource must be disturbed, mitigation measures shall be undertaken.
The project involves storefront and tenant improvements to a commercial structure in the Park Street Historic District. No digging or grading activities are proposed as part of the project; however, standard permit requirements of the City require the applicant to stop construction and consult a qualified archeologist if any archeological resources are discovered.
9. New additions, exterior alterations, or related new construction will not destroy historic materials, features, and spatial relationships that characterize the property. The new work shall be differentiated from the old and will be compatible with the historic materials, features, size, scale and proportion, and massing to protect the integrity of the property and its environment.
The project does not significantly change the historic features that characterize the building. The proposed improvements clearly distinguish the new work from the old while providing materials and scale that are consistent with the original.
10. New additions and adjacent or related new construction will be undertaken in such a manner that, if removed in future, the essential form and integrity of the historic property and its environment would be unimpaired.
There are no new additions or adjacent structures proposed as part of this proposal.
Design Review and Use Permit
Upon action by the HAB on the Certificate of Approval, the Zoning Administrator will conduct a separate public review to consider Design Review approval of the modifications as well as a conditional use permit to allow alcohol service and extended hours of operation. Staff will review the proposed design to ensure that it is consistent with the General Plan, Zoning Ordinance, the Park Street Commercial Historic District, and the Citywide Design Review Manual.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
The project was determined to be categorically exempt from the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15301- Existing Facilities, minor alterations to an existing structure, and Section 15331- Historical Rehabilitation consistent with the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties
RECOMMENDATION
Hold a Public Hearing and approve a Certificate of Approval to allow improvements to an existing commercial storefront at 1325 Park Street.
Respectfully Submitted,
Steven Buckley, Secretary to the Historical Advisory Board
By,
Brian McGuire, Planner II
Exhibits:
1. Project Plans
2. Photos
3. State DPR Form
4. Resolution