From Napa Valley Register
Developer Todd Zapolski has purchased the historic Gordon Building in downtown Napa from owners George and Jacqueline Altamura.
The deal was expected to close this week. The two-story, 20,000-square-foot building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
“It just makes sense,” Zapolski said of buying the building, which is located immediately east of his current redevelopment project, the Shops at Napa Center and a proposed hotel.
Zapolski said he didn’t have immediate plans for the building. “The main project benefits from us being able to say we control it,” he said.
The Gordon Building offers approximately 10,000 square feet of space on the first floor and 10,000 square feet on the second.
That amount of square footage may be attractive to national or regional tenants who need larger spaces than are available at the Shops at Napa Center, Zapolski said. The center’s largest spaces are closer to 5,000 square feet, he said.
“There are tenants we hope that will come along” that want closer to 10,000 square feet, “and the Gordon Building gives us that ability to try to market to them.”
Zapolski is currently redeveloping the former Napa Town Center. In addition to that project, in August he also announced plans for a seven-story boutique hotel, called Archer Napa, for the Merrill’s building site.
Unlike the Merrill’s building, which is not on the National Register of Historic Places, “we want to preserve the Gordon Building,” Zapolski said. “We’re not going to tear it down.”
“We want to look at what makes sense,” but “be patient about it,” he said. While no specific plans have been announced, he said retail, office and possible second-floor residential uses could be considered. “We’re just exploring options,” he said.
The developer wouldn’t say how much he paid for the building. It’s currently home to several tenants including Amica Studios, a Christian Science Reading room, Napa Valley Apothecary and several offices on the second floor.
The Gordon Building will be marketed along with the Shops at Napa Center, but it’s not going to become an official part of that project.
“It will stand alone as the Gordon Building and complement the main project,” he said. “We are linking it” to the Shops at Napa Center, “but not integrating it.”
In addition to current tenants, Zapolski also said that a short-term retailer could occupy the space formerly home to Silver Sensations.
That tenant would be a “non-food pop-up store for the holiday season,” Zapolski said in a phone interview on Tuesday.