VENTURA : City Wants to Keep Old Building’s Grant

Even though there are plans to tear down the historic Peirano building, Ventura does not need to return the $100,000 grant it received to preserve the old grocery, Ventura’s mayor wrote in a May 23 letter to the state Office of Historic Preservation.

“No person or group holds the exclusive high moral ground on this issue,” Mayor Tom Buford wrote. “Given the role your office plays in such matters, I believe a more responsible approach would be to investigate all views before coming to a conclusion.”

State officials demanded their money back in a letter they sent to Ventura earlier this month, writing that “this office cannot support a proposal that calls for demolition of a significant historic resource such as the Peirano Market.”

The state agency gave the city the grant seven years ago to help it buy and preserve Nick Peirano’s aging Italian market on Main Street downtown. Built in 1877, the neighborhood landmark still sports murals on its west wall, advertising Borax laundry detergent and Ghirardelli chocolate.

The City Council voted in March to sell the building to Ventura Realty for $75,000 to $100,000, relieving the city of a site that would cost about $430,000 to restore to current seismic standards.

Ventura Realty--which is still in negotiations with the city-- plans to keep the front and the west side of the city’s oldest brick building, while knocking down the rest to expose a Spanish laundry underneath.

In his letter to state officials, Buford wrote that they had misjudged the situation by assuming that the grocery held more historical import than the lavanderia. He also added that they overlooked a 1991 law which gives Ventura the discretion on how to apply the state grant.

State officials were not available for comment Thursday.