FILLMORE : City Likely to Raze Proposed Landmark

The city of Fillmore is paying $155,000 for an 85-year-old Central Avenue building that city officials say will probably be torn down.

The former United Mercantile Building at 345 Central Ave., which was proposed last year as a Ventura County historic landmark, recently housed a discount clothing store. The building is one of the few in Fillmore’s central business district that have not been renovated in the last two years.

City Manager Roy Payne said the building would have required at least $50,000 in structural repairs before Santa Paula owner Harry Herman could begin cosmetic improvements. Grants of only $5,000 were given to other Central Avenue businesses for renovations.

Herman said he was negotiating a loan for repairs, but his tenant terminated a lease this month, so he decided to accept the city’s purchase offer.

Payne said the city hopes to determine quickly whether the structure has any salvage value. The building probably will be replaced by small shops and a walkway connecting Central Avenue stores with a nearby parking lot, he said.

Katherine Garner of the Ventura County Cultural Heritage Board said the building was proposed as a landmark because it was built in 1905 and was once owned by Fillmore’s first mayor, George Teague. Plans to declare it a landmark were dropped at the owner’s request.

“If the building was in better shape, it would be beneficial to save it,” Garner said. “In its present condition, it’s not cost-effective to save it.”