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View Winners → City Negotiating With Samuelson & Fetter to Rehab Historic Depot
Monrovia Weekly Nov 18, 2015
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The Santa Fe Depot has fallen into disrepair over the years and also has been vandalized. – Photo by Terry Miller
The Monrovia City Council directed staff to enter into negotiations with Samuelson & Fetter doing business as Daylight Limited, L.L.C. to rehabilitate the community’s historic Santa Fe Depot. The council considered three proposals submitted in response to a Request for Proposal (RFP) before making the decision to negotiate with the local firm.
All three submissions proposed were for a “Warm Shell Rehab”, meaning that the building’s exterior would be stabilized and restored to its historic look, but that the interior would not yet be finished. That work will be done when a tenant is found for the building. All three submissions also looked for an ultimate use for the building as a restaurant/café.
The city has grant funding from the Gold Line Construction Authority for a $1.5 million restoration of the depot. The proposal from Samuelson & Fetter estimated a cost of $1.77 million with the developer absorbing the additional expense. The other responses estimated costs substantially higher of approximately $2.6 million. One group’s proposal asked for additional funding and considerations from the city, the other was not as specific.
Council Member Alex Blackburn questioned the large cost discrepancy, but Council Member Gloria Crudgington pointed out that Samuelson & Fetter had employed a structural engineer when preparing its proposal while the others had not.
Ultimately the council voted to enter into detailed negotiations regarding the rehabilitation with the local developer. As Mayor Tom Adams noted, “Samuelson Fetter has a very vested interest in that area,” referring to The Parks, an apartment complex the firm is developing adjacent to Station Square.
Before the state shut down the redevelopment agencies statewide, Monrovia’s redevelopment agency had been working with Samuelson & Fetter to develop the entire area around the Monrovia Gold Line station. Those plans fell through and a more modest plan was put in place. The depot had always been a part of that earlier plan.
