Nonprofit wants to secure Atascadero’s Printery building, prevent tax auction

A nonprofit foundation hoping to restore Atascadero’s historical Printery building faces a March 31 deadline to file a protest against San Luis Obispo County’s plans to auction off the property to recoup unpaid taxes, and is enlisting the city’s help in the protest effort.

The nonprofit Atascadero Printery Foundation hopes to acquire the Printery by preventing a public auction on the grounds that the building should be used for public purposes. It has asked the city to designate the 1-acre grounds as permanent open space in order to meet legal requirements for the protest.

However, a county tax official said late Wednesday that the county’s lawyer has reviewed the law and determined that the open space designation only applies if there are no buildings on the property.

So far, the city hasn’t committed to designating the site for open space, though officials say they want to help the nonprofit achieve its goal of taking over and preserving the building. The original deadline for filing an objection was Friday, but was pushed to March 31 at the request of the city of Atascadero.

Atascadero’s Printery building, located at 6351 Olmeda Ave. near Atascadero Junior High School, is slated to go to a tax auction administered by the county Assessor’s Office. The auction is scheduled to run from May 14 to 17. If no bids are received, the auction would be postponed a year and the county could then lower the minimum bidding amount.

The property has about $240,000 in unpaid taxes spanning a five-year period, said Karen McNamara, the foundation’s co-chair. The building’s owner, former developer Kelly Gearhart, was convicted of fraud last year and sentenced to 14 years in prison. Gearhart is appealing the verdict.

The online auction has a minimum bid of $244,000, said Gordon Eiland, the county’s treasury and tax manager. The nonprofit would have to commit to purchasing the property through its objection to the sale, Eiland said.

McNamara said her foundation has received pledges for donations to purchase the 19,000-square-foot building.

“We’re just looking for a verbal commitment from the city on the open-space designation,” McNamara said. “That will enable us to move forward.”

Eiland said that mention of an open space designation exists on the state Controller’s Office form that a nonprofit can submit for objection to the sale of the property. However, that does not apply to this situation, he said.

“Our counsel’s interpretation is that condition applies only if the property is vacant, unimproved open space,” Eiland said. “In this case, a building is on the site and therefore a nonprofit would not have the ability to pre-empt a sale (by auction).”

Atascadero City Manager Rachelle Rickard said the city will seek to help the Printery Foundation however it can, though no financial commitment is possible. A government agency, such as the city, also could object to the sale of a historic site for public use, and buy it, but Atascadero officials issued a press release Tuesday saying the city has “no intent to purchase the property.”

“The city fully supports the dedicated efforts of the members of the Atascadero Printery Foundation in their goal of preserving and restoring the Printery building to its former grandeur,” Rickard said.

Rickard said the city would need to review how an open-space agreement could work, and whether that would entail preserving the space around the building while ensuring the structure can be renovated, and if that’s the best option for the site.

“We need to go through those hoops and figure that out,” Rickard said. “Would that mean they’d keep the grounds open, and carve out the building as separate so they can renovate it? We’ll try to be creative. The city’s interest is that we want the building preserved and restored and available to the city.”

Foundation’s plans

The Printery Foundation hopes to restore the abandoned building, built in 1915, and make it into a museum and meeting center for the community.

“There are a lot of people in town who don’t want to see this building go to a private developer,” McNamara said. “A developer likely would sit on it because of the costs to restore it, and then nothing ever gets done with it.”

The nonprofit intends to renovate the building with an emphasis on arts, education, history and meeting spaces. The organization is planning new theater space for live productions and musical events, large and small dining and meeting spaces, museum-type displays, an outdoor activity space with Santa Maria-style barbecue accommodations, and possible office space with priority consideration for nonprofit use.

Damaged by quake

The building, which during its early years in Atascadero housed the largest rotogravure printing presses west of the Mississippi River, was heavily damaged in the 2003 San Simeon Earthquake.

Past estimates on the costs to repair the facility have been in the millions of dollars; City Councilman Bob Kelley said he believes it would cost $2 million to $4 million, based on past estimates, to retrofit the building.

The property also has deed restrictions because of its historic status, Rickard said.

“No matter whose hands the building is in, it will be preserved as a historic building,” Rickard said. “It can’t just be torn down.”

Atascadero founder E.G. Lewis’ Illustrated Review and The Atascadero News were printed in the building, along with many smaller publications that were mailed throughout the United States. Notably, covers for Sunset magazine were printed in the plant.

The building has been home to several secondary schools, the local school district headquarters, the North County Sheriff’s Office, a photography studio and the Masonic Lodge, which purchased the building in the 1950s. Shortly before the earthquake, it was used as a recreation center.

This story was originally published March 16, 2016 at 7:40 PM with the headline "Nonprofit wants to secure Atascadero’s Printery building, prevent tax auction."