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Uploaded: Saturday, July 11, 2009, 5:33 PM
Updated: Monday, July 13, 2009, 9:01 AM
Historic Palo Alto landmark to become office space
Former Christian Science church purchased by Belmont-based Embarcadero Capital Partners
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by Emily James
Palo Alto Online Staff
Photo
 | New tenants will be moving into the former First Church of Christ, Scientist, located at 661 Bryant St. in Palo Alto, but they won't be worshiping, just working.
Embarcadero Capital Partners purchased the historic downtown landmark at the corner of Forest Avenue last October and have plans to lease it as high-end office space by the end of the year or in early 2010, according to company officials.
The Belmont firm also owns the Embarcadero Corporate Center on East Bayshore Road and the four-story office building at 100 Hamilton St. downtown.
With its distinctive red-tile roof, white stucco and multiple-arched entryways, the 10,895-square-foot former church was declared an historic landmark in 1978. It was designed by Los Angeles architect Elmer Grey and constructed in 1916 by Frank Graves & Son.
The Mission Revival-style facility was the first building to be constructed on the property and has been owned since construction by the First Church of Christ, Scientist.
"The auditorium was the first part that was built," said Wylie Greig, a church member who was involved in the building sale. "Then they added the Sunday school."
The church also included a hall next to the auditorium with doors that open up to expand the space. The rest of the building is offices and meeting rooms.
"The 'wow' factor is the auditorium itself," said Greig. "It's the largest auditorium in downtown Palo Alto. It's very large, with a very high ceiling and lots of light. The main auditorium seats 450 people. It's two stories high with stained glass, but they're not churchy stained glass. It's colored glass. It ranges in color from a rose color to yellow. It's glass that is free-form with colors flowing into one another."
In 2006, the church decided to sell the building due to declining membership and merge with the Second Church of Christ, Scientist, built in 1950 and located on Cowper Street in south Palo Alto.
The decision to retain the Cowper Street building rather than the downtown site was based on the suitability of the facilities.
"Cowper Street was larger than the other building," Greig said. "The lack of on-site parking was a big consideration. Our (Cowper Street) church has lots of on-site parking."
The Cowper Street church had been built when the downtown site was so crowded the congregation needed more space, he said.
The decision to leave behind their longtime meetinghouse was not easy.
"It's difficult," Greig said. "When you talk about a church that has been first built and then maintained over 100 years, it's very hard to let go of. But we're in the business of being a church, not maintaining buildings."
Due to the historic designation of the building, renovation of the space would be complicated -- something church members warned would-be buyers, Greig said.
"Anyone interested in the church we encouraged to talk to the city. The buyer had to be comfortable that they could work with the city and find a good solution for the property."
John Hamilton, principal at Embarcadero Capital Partners, said the firm plans to keep the building as untouched as possible.
"The exterior work really has to do with the renovation of the plaza," Hamilton said. "We'll redo the little plaza in front, and the rest is just fixing up the interior."
Hamilton said the firm's application for renovation has been submitted to the city.
Embarcadero Capital Partners plans to lease the building to a single tenant.
"The interior space is beautiful," Hamilton said. "It'd be exciting to work in there. It should be stunning."
Greig remembered the interior as many well-lit rooms with beautiful colors dancing on the walls from stained-glass windows.
"There was an entry to the Sunday school that is two stories that had a really lovely staircase and more stained-glass windows," Greig said. "It has a stucco interior with lots of wood paneling, oak doors and window frames. It's all original dating back from 1916."
The church housed a large pipe organ that was donated to a high school music program in the Seattle area when the church building was sold. The Moeller pipe organ, which contained about 800 pipes, was installed in the church in 1966.
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Posted by Resident, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Jul 12, 2009 at 9:26 am The building sounds lovely and I just wonder if there couldn't be a better use for it than office space. It sounds like it should be available for as many people to see as possible - possibly some type of dining hall or small live theatre. We have plenty of unused office space in Palo Alto and I wonder if we need any more?
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Posted by WilliamR, a resident of the Fairmeadow neighborhood, on Jul 12, 2009 at 6:56 pm Resident-- I think the live-theater concept is a good idea. There has been talk over the years about the need for more performing arts facilites in town, and this would be another draw for downtown, especially evenings and weekends.
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Posted by rem, a resident of the Adobe-Meadows neighborhood, on Jul 13, 2009 at 10:45 am Why don’t we have a honest City Council that will honestly say “Developer (Contractors) Lobby, Developer (Contractors) donate and we will approve!!!!”
It would be great if the City Council and all the other “Councils” and “Work Shops” learned a new word – NO or new phase – DISAPPROVED….
There is no sane reason for this “Redevelopment” except MONEY, MONEY, MONEY and not care about the people of Palo Alto or ANY of the other communities …..
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Posted by mea, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Jul 13, 2009 at 12:09 pm I couldn't disagree more. As someone who has worked on historic buildings, one of the most difficult things is to find new uses which create a viable new use while maintaining a buildings historic integrity. Sure, wouldn't it be great if the City bought all available historic properties and restored them to public uses. Problem is they can't, in fact they don't even have the resources to take care of their own historic buildings like the Roth Building or the Sea Scout Building. I hate to see developers blasted as only being in it for the money. In fact, they take great risk and provide us with community good when they decide they can find a way to redevelop a building while preserving it. Why are they "bad guys?" I've reviewed the plans and their plans actually preserve nearly every key component of the building, kudos not derision is called for.
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Posted by Resident, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Jul 13, 2009 at 1:22 pm I was not advocating any city involvement in running the Church as a function venue. I am no expert, but I feel sure we do not have enough rental facilities around town for weddings and receptions, business functions, BarMitzvahs, jazz or choral concerts (churches usually have great acoustics) etc. and with outside caterers and function rental companies doing their thing the owners would just be taking in the rental moneys. I agree that the city should not be in the business of taking on privately owned historic or beautiful buildings and doing anything with them, but private enterprise can.
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Posted by mea, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Jul 13, 2009 at 5:13 pm That's all fine and good but the building sold for about 4 million. It needs a structural upgrade and other very costly improvements that will total another 3 million and then you get around to the cost of remodeling. I didn't see too many people lining up to purchase the building or any of the types of facilities you are suggesting having the money to renovate the building so your wishes are rather pie in the sky. Ask the Pacific Art League people how expensive it is to renovate their downtown historic building and you will see why the building has sat there for five years in desperate need of renovation. I think people have to get real about the cost of such projects. Here you have a developer who has figured out a way to convert, seismically upgrade, bring needed mechanical , electrical and plumbing upgrades including accessibility upgrades which are mandated all while preserving this important building in the downtown. They have the money and they have a plan, I don't think because they are developers that we need to assail their intentions as inherently "evil" or not serving the common good. It's all fine to wish for something different but that doesn't deal with the reality that to get anything off the ground in this building you are going to have to spend about 5-7 million dollars. Hmmm, oh yeah, there's that.
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Posted by Resident, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Jul 13, 2009 at 5:37 pm Mea
Maybe it is wishful thinking on my part, but we are all allowed to dream!
However, my original point still stands. There is plenty of unused office space in Palo Alto, do we need more? If it stands empty like the new building at the old Scotts Seafood place, it is not going to bring in any revenue to the developers.
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Posted by mea, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Jul 13, 2009 at 5:59 pm resident,
Of course, I wasn't meaning to squash your dreams. I've been a historic preservation architect for twenty five years now and I know that these projects have immense challenges. Immense equates to money, so it's always a challenge. Believe me I respect your dreams and they seem like good ones but in the end it just takes money and will.
I can't speak to the need for additional office and therein lies the risk to the developer. If he builds it and they don't come, they have problems. Big one's. They have to predict the market wherein they risk their money as well as the people's who have invested with them so it really is a high stakes poker game. That's why I prefer to be on the architecture side and not the development side.
Respectfully, mea
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