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Tradition is key for hardware store
By AMY ANGELO YORBA LINDA STAR November 10, 2005
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Yorba Linda Hardware store owners
Art and Becky Brown love their business; they love Main Street
and Yorba Linda too.
The Browns enjoy their work and the
life they have built, but they are struggling with the idea
of downtown redevelopment and what it will mean to their
store, which dates to the 1920s, and their family.
“This location is part of our
business and part of history. I don’t want to leave.
Our customers know us here,“ Becky Brown said.
PROJECT BACKGROUND
Yorba Linda officials have
been shaping a vision for more than five years for boosting
sales, while adding to the liveliness of the area in and
around Main Street.
Architect Michael Dieden of Creative
Housing Associates came onto the scene in summer 2004. In
January 2005, Dieden, his partner Greg Brown of BH Urban
Equities and Walter N. Marks entered into a nine-month exclusive
negotiating agreement with the city to develop a proposal
for revamping the Town Center.
Their conceptual plan, released in
July, would add up to 200 homes and 170,000 square feet of
commercial space.
But with decisions not expected until
December or later, the merchants feel uncertain about their
futures.
“It’s tough to get straight
answers – all you ever get is conceptual ideas,” Becky
Brown said.
BUSINESS TRADITION
The Browns said they have
never had a bad check from anyone in Yorba Linda during the
six years they have leased their space on Main Street.
“It speaks to the quality of
the people in this town,” Art Brown said.
Customer Tim Davis likes the familiarity. “You
can’t take this store away,” he said. “I
have been shopping here for years.”
Art Brown said he liked the ideas
of architect Ron Cano of Downtown Main Street Visions, which
was guiding the city’s effort to create the Town Center
Master Plan until Cano died in 2003.
In that same year, Brown said he
made an offer to the proprietors of the hardware building,
the Parker family. It was rejected.
The Parkers have owned the building
since the late 1940s.
“The property has been in my
family for three generations and our desire is to remain
the owners,” Howard Parker said.
“I am not opposed to downtown
redevelopment. I support the redevelopment because I think
it would be good for Main Street merchants in the long run,” he
added.
CONCERNS, QUESTIONS
“As a retailer, I
am for the business that the downtown rejuvenation would
bring,” Art Brown said.
However, when he talked to officials
about the city’s ideas for the property, “they
said they wanted to turn it into a restaurant. That is where
the problems started for me,” Brown said.
Councilman Ken Ryan said a change
would be up to the property owner.
“The Parkers have expressed
interested in a change of use for the property and the city
is open to this adaptive use. This is a landowner decision.”
He added: “The hardware store
is historically and architecturally a key component to our
downtown and a place that has been an asset to the community
for many years.”
Ryan said the city’s vision
for downtown is to keep the hardware store on Main Street – perhaps
moving the Browns to a new location on the street, perhaps
a larger building.
The Browns also expressed concern
over eminent domain and the reality that the final decision
regarding the sale of the property is not theirs. They have
hired an attorney to provide insurance in the days ahead.
At this point Art Brown said, he
just wants a fair negotiation of his lease terms and the
cost of moving. But his wife does not have the same sentiments.
“I put in 15-hour days building
this store. We want to stay here; I will fight moving from
this building,” Becky Brown said.
The Browns believe the citizens of
Yorba Linda should have a vote on major development changes
to the city, but they did not sign the Right-to-Vote Initiative
petition because they are residents of Corona.
“I don’t think (city
officials are) listening to the residents,“ Becky said.
“They are driven by money and
taxpayer revenue.”
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