VENTURA : City Renews Effort to Sell Old Market

More than two years after Ventura dropped a plan to restore the Peirano Market on Main Street, a proposal from a downtown businessman has persuaded the city to revive its efforts to find an owner for the historic building.

Spurred by an informal proposal from Sandy Smith, owner of the Rosarito Beach Cafe at 256 E. Main St., who wants to buy the boarded-up grocery store at 204 E. Main St. for $85,000, the Redevelopment Agency will begin soliciting other bids for the project at the end of the month, said Miriam Mack, the city’s redevelopment administrator.

“The building has been vacant for so long we weren’t sure there was an interest in it,” Mack said.

“This new proposal made us think that maybe there were other people who wanted to do something with the property.”

The 2,242-square-foot building, located in the heart of downtown across the street from Mission San Buenaventura, has been empty since the city bought the building in 1986 for $185,000, $100,000 of which was a grant from the state’s Office of Historic Preservation.

Built in 1877 for Alex Gandolfo, the market is the oldest brick building in Ventura.

It was sold in the 1890s to Nicola Peirano, Gandolfo’s nephew.

Peirano’s sons Nick and Victor bought the store in the 1930s.

After Victor’s death in 1967, Nick ran the store until he retired in 1986.

A 1987 proposal by the Redevelopment Agency to restore the building along with the entire block between Figueroa Plaza and Palm Street met with opposition from nearby businesses and was eventually dropped, Mack said.

The plan called for recreating China Alley--named after the several hundred Chinese who lived there between 1870 and 1905--at the rear of the building and constructing exhibits illustrating the area’s history.

Requirements that businesses along the street restore original storefronts drew the loudest objections, Mack said.

When the city requested bids to restore the Peirano Market, only one response was received, Mack said.

The cost of restoring the building may have contributed to the lack of interest, Mack said.

An engineering firm hired by the city in 1987 estimated that restoring the unreinforced masonry building will cost $320,000.

The cost of installing new wiring, plumbing and decor could increase that amount to $500,000, Smith said.

Because the old building is a state landmark and is at the center of many downtown events, such as the city’s three annual street fairs, officials and residents are reluctant to simply tear it down.

“The Peirano Market is the focal point of downtown,” said Smith, who would only say that his proposal calls for turning the building into a restaurant.