Friday’s fire ‘another hit in the face’ for Telegraph Avenue

November 21, 2011 4:26 pm by Tracey Taylor

Firefighters battling the fire that engulfed the Sequoia Apartments building on Haste and Telegraph Friday. Photo: Pete Rosos

The city of Berkeley and the merchants of Telegraph Avenue are encouraging the community to shop on Berkeley’s most famous street this holiday season after a devastating fire left many people homeless on Friday and closed down one section of the commercial strip indefinitely.

“The message we want to put out is that most stores on Telegraph are open for business. We would like to encourage shopping on Telegraph in part because of this terrible blow,” said Dave Fogarty, Berkeley’s economic development project coordinator.

Several businesses have been directly impacted by the five-alarm fire at the historic building at 2441 Haste Street. Café Intermezzo and Raleigh’s Bar & Grill, both located in the building at street level and owned by the Ent family, the building’s landlords, have been shut down indefinitely, as has the nearby Thai Noodle II.

Amoeba Music lost $20,000 worth of business over the weekend because the store, which is across the street from the building, had to close, according to owner Marc Weinstein. Amoeba re-opened in a limited way Monday morning but customers were only able to enter using a side door.

Speaking about the fire, Weinstein said: “This is a hideous development to an already totally beat-up Telegraph. We are lucky nobody got hurt. This is another hit in the face for the avenue.”

The entire block of Telegraph between Haste and Channing is closed to pedestrians and cars as the burned building is structurally hazardous and still being monitored by the fire department for flare-ups. [Update, 4:48pm: the city has confirmed that all fires at the building are now extinguished and firefighters have left the scene. The building is red-tagged and the intersection will continue to be closed for at least two days.]

Al Geyer, owner of head shop Annapurna and head of Telegraph Avenue Merchants Association, said his store has reopened but business is slow since vehicle access is restricted.

“The problem is access. Once you are on the street it is bisected. It’s like two islands without a bridge. It’s hard to wander now. It disrupts the entire traffic flow.”

The Ents also own the space in the burned out building which has been slated to become Gabrielle’s, a pizza restaurant. They were denied a permit for a pizza oven by the city and the space has been vacant for around two years.

The block will be closed until the building is propped up or demolished, according to Michael Caplan, economic development manager for Berkeley. He said on Monday afternoon that the owners still did not have control of the building, but that they have already brought in contractors to look at it. City officials held a number of meetings Monday to discuss the fire and its implications.

Local merchants now face the prospect of two vacant lots facing each other on Telegraph at Haste. The Telegraph lot opposite the fire-scarred Sequoia Apartments building, which is owned by Ken Sarachan, has been vacant since the early 1990s, and is considered a blight on the neighborhood. In addition, the former Cody’s store on the opposite corner of Haste and Telegraph, also owned by Sarachan, has also been empty since the bookstore closed in 2006.

Weinstein believes the city should take some of the blame for the fire as well as the landlords of the building which, he said, was “totally neglected”. “Everybody on the street knows that maintenance on this building was a joke,” he said. “This is another story in a list of stories about the city not taking care of business.”

The cause of the fire has not yet been determined.

Saturday is “Small Business Saturday”, a small-business version of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The city, the Chamber of Commerce and Buy Local Berkeley are pushing for shoppers to go to Telegraph to help out the area. “Everybody wants a piece of the holiday action but it would be nice if everyone would remember Telegraph this week,” said Caplan.

Related:
“Largest fire since 1991″ leaves many locals homeless [11.19.11]
Devastating fire in apartment building, Haste at Telegraph [11.19.11] 

12 Comments

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  • Chamelean75

    I hope that they demolish and rebuild the building soon.  I was under the impression that the City of Berkeley took control of the grassy green lot across from the burned out building from Sarachan.  Is the City of Berkeley going to build something there? 

  • Bryan Garcia

    I’m really worried that this could very bad for the already-struggling Amoeba. I hope not, because it’s one of my favorite businesses in all of Berkeley, or anywhere, for that matter.

  • Berkeley Resident

    I doubt that the City took over the empty Sarachan lot.  It would take a lot of work and litigation, I think, before City of Berkeley can take over.

  • Record Man

    Amoeba is the best.  It was the first record store I visited in Berkeley, and I was so pleased it’s the only one I ever go to.  Consider giving Amoeba gift certificates this holiday season to support them through the corner chaos.

  • Berkeleyborn123

    Amoeba..struggling. They clear 20g’s on a Weekend using minimum wage employees and low overhead used stiff. Grossing 1 million per year is hardly struggling. Telegraph ave would have 2 new tasteful buildings if the city of Berkeley could guarantee permit approval in 6 months or les or waive all fees if it tok 6-12 months. More than 12 monthes? 1 year of no property taxes waived for each month over. But Berkeley is obsessed with social engineering through the permit process, so these lots will stay vacant rat habitat and savvy commercial investors will take their insurance payouts for the building and invest elsewhere…sorry Berkeley, all the low cost housing and rent control has given you a city for the rich with a median home price of ~600k. Accept that and use that income to improve struggling areas instead of padding city employee pensions and making up fake jobs for city workers…but you won’t, glad I’m not paying 6-10k to you in property taxes…

  • libraterian

    Bravo, Berkeleyborn123! 

  • Cleita

    doesn’t one need to know the net to begin to define ‘struggling’?

  • chainsaw buddha

    Idiot $20k on a holiday season weekend…

  • Charles_Siegel

    “Berkeley is obsessed with social engineering through the permit process, so these lots will stay vacant”

    So why is it that lots all over downtown have not stayed vacant but instead have been developed with housing over shopping?  The permit process is the same.  What is the difference? 

  • Charles_Siegel

    One architect has suggested that restoring the building would be better than demolish and rebuild:

    “The City needs to have a qualified engineer—one who works on historic
    masonry buildings—look at the ruin before it’s swept away with no proper
    review. It should be noted that it’s a prime development site WITH THE
    RUINS, because it’s an existing approved building envelope – probably no
    EIR and all that to encumber a reconstruction. Maybe the local business
    folks would like a quick reconstruction process rather than a slow
    new-project one. Financing for housing projects is practically nil
    theses days.”
    http://berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2011-11-20/article/38883?headline=Berkeley-Needs-Qualified-Engineer-to-Review-Fire-Damaged-Historic-Masonry-Building–By-Kirk-Peterson

    The city did not take over the empty lot across the street.  It foreclosed on the lot to pressure the owner to do something.  http://www.berkeleyside.com/2011/09/07/city-hands-ultimatum-to-sarachan-on-vacant-telegraph-lot/

  • Riadp

    While I’d like to invest in Berkeley and shop Telegraph Ave it’d be easier to do if they had something more than head shops and street vendors.  Not really a lot to draw people in.  Telegraph Ave is due for a major overhaul.  Can the city let that happen??

  • Heather W.

    I went up to Telly this morning at 10 a.m. Street vendors just at the beginnings of setting up, the only shops open were head shops and The Med. We’d parked on Durant, not realizing you can’t walk the block between there and Moe’s books, so had to hike around the block, to find a lot of the Street People with their dogs, not asking for money, but not being particularly … interesting either. There really weren’t many businesses on the street that I’d want to shop, unfortunately and my desire for street jewelry is long gone.  I did buy some books from Moe’s, got a cup of coffee at The Med… then my 1 hour meter time was about to expire so I hiked back around a few blocks to get to the car. The Sequoia Building is now an oddly beautiful facade; its brick facade is so elegant and fragile now. I am sad to see it go, more empty space… less “old Berkeley”.