O
n July 19 th & 20 th the
Gilroy Downtown
Business Association
hosted a tour of some
of the URM (unreinforced masonry
buildings) in Downtown Gilroy. The
tour consisted of a walkthrough of five
buildings representing seven addresses
and owned by four different individuals.
All of the buildings had brick or unrein-
forced masonry that had been retrofitted
and are on the verge of being available
for occupancy.
The tour started at 7547 Monterey,
between Fifth and Fourth, currently
occupied by Ashford Antiques. Back
in 1925 it started out as a radio repair
shop, then a stationary store, a pho-
tography studio, and finally an auto
parts store. Steve Ashford, the owner, is
doing the repairs himself and will soon
finish reinforcing the south wall. When
that work is finished that section of the
antique store will have additional open
stalls available for antique vendors.
Ashford is accepting applications at this
time. The current store has about 8,200
square feet.
The next stop on the tour was 7533
Monterey, former home of Mafalds’s.
The two-story building dates back to
1890 and has also housed a variety of
businesses including a grocery and a
music store. The current owner and
person responsible for the retrofit is
Jose Montes. The URM work is done.
The roof and brick walls have been
reinforced and tied to each other. The
new structure is a concrete and steel
fortress that befits the metal shutters
on the alley side. Jose’s oldest son,
Josh, has headed up much of the
retrofit work. Upstairs there will be two
apartments in the front. Pending City
approval Montez would like to restore
the original parapet and windows
facing Monterey that have been stuc-
coed over. Montez has some historical
photos of the original façade that he
will use as guides for the restoration.
Montez said that these apartments
should be available in six months or so.
Downstairs Montez is hoping to
have two restaurant tenants. One would
be a larger full service restaurant facing
Monterey street. Montez is finishing
up the stairs to the upper apartments
and doing preliminary work on the
street-level Monterey Street façade.
In the back he has room for a smaller
bakery or lunch place with access from
Gourmet Alley. Upstairs there is a third
restaurant space. It is a dramatic open-
beamed space overlooking the alley and
with a very inviting roof-top dining or
lounge area. Windows on two sides are
protected by metal shutters. A possible
tenant is already considering this space.
URM Buildings
in various phases
of revitalization
Jose Montez is also the owner-
builder on the Hall’s Building on
the corner of Sixth and Monterey.
This building was not on the URM
tour. However, there is some news
of note. Upstairs he has three apart-
ments framed in and a medium-sized
restaurant space on the ground level.
He has a tenant lined up for this
restaurant. However, further develop-
ment is hindered by the lack of the
necessary electrical power. This long
awaited project is on hold until PG&E
can upgrade the power to the building.
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
FALL/HOLIDAY 2019
The tour’s last stop on the west
side of the street was 7525 and 7517
Monterey. 7525 is a two-story building
probably built in 1910. The first floor
has been a barbershop, a candy store
and a shoe store. 7517 Monterey
is a one-story building constructed
around 1900. Over the years it has
been a grocery and meat market, a
fashion shop and a clothing store. The
current retrofit of both buildings is the
responsibility of Sunil Patel and his
partner. The buildings were purchased
in 2006 and have gone through at
least four iterations. Originally Sunil
Patel bought the building to open
a pharmacy. Then plans changed
to tearing the buildings down and
constructing a three-story building.
With the 2008-09 recession, the con-
struction plans were abandoned but the
tear down remained on the books. Patel
was going to leave it as a park. In the
course of all these plan changes, twice
the building almost became a paseo
between parking on Eigleberry and
storesfronts on Monterey.
The final iteration of the plans are
the ones in progress today: an inter-
connected one story and two story
building with over 16,000 square feet
of space. The building has been retro-
fitted with a steel and concrete frame
built within the current structure. The
front part of the second floor will be
home to two apartments which should
be available for rent in 2020. The back
part of the two-story building is open
and could become a rooftop restaurant
or dining area. Plans for the inter-
connected first floor are flexible. It
would be home to one large business or
as many as six smaller businesses (two
restaurants, two offices and two retail
spaces.) Currently Patel is finishing up
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