{"id":249954,"date":"2016-03-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-03-11T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/flapper-era-dance-hall-in-hillcrest-to-be-repurposed-renovated\/"},"modified":"2016-03-11T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-03-11T08:00:00","slug":"flapper-era-dance-hall-in-hillcrest-to-be-repurposed-renovated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/flapper-era-dance-hall-in-hillcrest-to-be-repurposed-renovated\/","title":{"rendered":"Flapper-era dance hall in Hillcrest to be repurposed, renovated"},"content":{"rendered":"

Por Ken Williams | Editor<\/p>\n

A century-old building in Hillcrest that once housed a dance hall during the Roaring \u201920s will be getting a nearly million-dollar facelift.<\/p>\n

The 10,680-square-foot structure built in 1916 at 1253 University Ave. was purchased for $2.75 million in February, said Brandon Blum, a managing partner of SBMI Group, which bought the property from Shirley Campbell.<\/p>\n

The building currently houses a Pilates studio on the top floor called Body Alchemist, and what Blum calls an \u201cillegal weed shop\u201d on the ground floor known as Herbal Lust. Blum said he is working with the city to have the unpermitted medical marijuana shop closed. The mezzanine level, most recently used for storage, once overlooked the Argyle dance hall that was popular during the flapper era.<\/p>\n

Blum said the building, which is zoned for mixed use, has not been deemed as historical. However, he said the plans are to \u201cplay off the historical nature of the building but with a modern touch.\u201d The architectural firm Texture is still finishing up the design, and those plans should be finalized this month, Blum said.<\/p>\n

\"This<\/a>
This 1916 building at 1253 University Ave. will be modernized and converted into a multi-use facility. (Courtesy of SBMI Group)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The renovation is expected to take six to seven months, with completion targeted for early fall.<\/p>\n

Structurally, Blum wants to knock down the concrete overhang on the front of the building, which he calls \u201cugly.\u201d He will replace the smaller top-floor windows, which face north, with floor-to-ceiling windows to make maximum use of natural lighting. \u201cWe also have big skylights already in the building, and we will keep those,\u201d he said. \u201cThere will be tons of natural light.\u201d<\/p>\n

SBMI also plans to install energy-efficient lighting and solar panels to boost the building\u2019s green initiatives and to reduce its carbon footprint.<\/p>\n

Like its western neighbor Wine Steals, Blum will create a small courtyard in front of the building, extending to the property line. He also hopes to sign a tenant that would serve healthy food in the caf\u00e9 space that once was home to Nunzio\u2019s restaurant.<\/p>\n

The building is across the street from Starbucks Coffee, a Subway shop and a strip mall. Its eastern neighbors are The Merrow and Tabletop Commons.<\/p>\n

Blum will relocate the Pilates studio to the ground floor in the space now occupied by the pot shop. He said he is working with city officials to evict that tenant. \u201cI am not against marijuana,\u201d Blum said. \u201cI just don\u2019t think a pot shop belongs on a main street like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

The top floor will be modernized and converted into four or five offices for small businesses, he said. The mezzanine will become a common space for those offices, where tenants can socialize, share ideas, collaborate, or take a break.<\/p>\n

Blum said SBMI Group, which is headquartered in Mission Valley, has been around for more than a decade and is making its first investment in Hillcrest. It is a commercial real estate management and investing firm, but not a developer, he said. Daniel Shkolnik is the other managing partner.<\/p>\n

The opportunity to buy the Hillcrest property came up about nine months ago, and Blum said SBMI Group jumped at the chance to buy it. He said he likes the \u201ctrendy Hillcrest location,\u201d but thinks the community is falling way behind North Park and Little Italy as a destination site. Still, he and his business partner are convinced that Hillcrest will continue to gentrify.<\/p>\n

So far, Blum has spoken with the Hillcrest Business Association and the new Uptown Gateway Council about his plans for the property.<\/p>\n

\u201cHillcrest has always been a real community,\u201d he said. \u201cBut Hillcrest hasn\u2019t had the growth of North Park or Little Italy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The trend for smaller office buildings, especially in the high-tech world, is to have open spaces with shared conference rooms.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re really excited to create a unique, cool, trendy mixed-use facility that will pay homage to the significance of the building while tapping into the collaborative nature of entrepreneurs and small companies,\u201d Blum said in a statement sent ahead of his interview with San Diego Uptown News.<\/p>\n

\u201cHillcrest is an impressive area with a fantastic community of residents. Our vision is to create a special place that everyone will be proud of,\u201d Shkolnik said in a statement. \u201cFun, collaborative, chic, cool \u2026 all built on the foundation of an incredible building.\u201d<\/p>\n

To read more information about the building\u2019s new owners, visit SBMIgroup.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2014Ken Williams is editor of Uptown News and Mission Valley News and can be reached at\u00a0ken@sdcnn.com<\/span><\/a>\u00a0o al 619-961-1952. S\u00edguelo en Twitter en\u00a0KenSanDiego<\/span><\/a>, cuenta de Instagram en\u00a0KenSD<\/span><\/a>\u00a0o Facebook en\u00a0KenWilliamsSanDiego<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Por Ken Williams | Editor<\/p>","protected":false},"author":846,"featured_media":249955,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Flapper-era dance hall in Hillcrest to be repurposed, renovated","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11547,11551,11550,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-249954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-features","category-news","category-top-stories","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/846"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}