The Cupertino Courier

News

Rotary Club eager to move into historic tank house

By Cody Kraatz

Cupertino Rotary will move into the Nathan Hall Tank House as soon as the utilities are turned on, which could take another six months.

First the city will need a couple of months to survey the land and change its ownership, said Steve Piasecki, director of community development.

The council had voted in January to acquire the tank house from the Byrne Avenue Homeowners Association and see to its challenging restoration; on Feb. 6 it agreed to lease the facility to Rotary for five years.

After the city takes ownership, Rotary's aggressive plan is to occupy the building by Sept. 15, said Councilman and Rotarian Richard Lowenthal.

"There's a lot of work to be done," he wrote in an email.

The water storage facility was built in the 1870s and is the only remaining structure from Hall's Victorian-style residential complex.

During its heyday, the tank house had two tanks with a 7,000- to 10,000-gallon capacity. The tanks were filled from a 100-foot well pumped by windmill power, according to a 1980 letter from Cupertino historian Louis Stocklmeir.

Rotary officials say they plan to use the old tank house, located by the Blue Pheasant Restaurant on Stevens Creek Boulevard, for storage, meetings and "historical purposes."

Cupertino Rotary has already pledged $25,000 to restore the tank house and, in exchange for exclusive use of the building, has committed an additional $10,000 and 100 hours of labor for interior improvements.

The lease agreement also stipulates that Rotary will maintain the property's walkways, landscaping, liability insurance and utility costs.

Resident Jennifer Griffin was surprised the city would move so quickly on renting the building.

"This building belongs to Cupertino. It is a historical site, and I'm having a little bit of a problem as a citizen seeing this property shuffled off to a private organization," she said.

"We're hoping for a lot of community involvement. We're all in it together," said Jim Walker, a longtime member of Rotary, which receives its funds from donations and fundraisers such as an upcoming golf tournament.

Four of the five members of the city council--Orrin Mahoney, Lowenthal, Vice Mayor Patrick Kwok and Mayor Kris Wang--are Rotary members.

Local developer Terry Brown moved the tank house across Stevens Creek Boulevard to its present location in the early 1980s as a condition of his development of the Byrne Avenue neighborhood. The building was then turned over to the homeowners association.

Brown is managing much of the tank house overhaul. His contractor's license is inactive now, but he will not need it.

"I'm going to be the project manager. I see my role as somebody who is making things happen, and I'm soliciting the men and materials to get the job done," said Brown, adding that it's appropriate that he take the lead since "I'm the guy that started all this trouble."

Brown told the council at its Jan. 16 meeting that his son, Los Gatos Roofing owner Randy Brown, would donate the labor and materials to re-roof the house as long as the city owned the property. This could save the city between $3,000 and $3,500, according to Randy Brown.

"I have had that same offer on the table for many years," he said. "I'm more than happy to donate the time and effort to get a good roof on there. When they're ready, I'll do it."

The re-roofing would take only a couple of days, and the timeline is up to the city.

Brown and his son, who remembers storing his belongings in the tank house when he came home from college, said the homeowners association did not take care of the property when it was in their control.

"They let it all go to pot," said Randy Brown. "The problem was not so much the city; it was a lack of cooperation from the homeowners association. They were not so much unwilling to cooperate with me as unwilling to cooperate with the city."

The total estimate for the project is $41,360, but this cost could be reduced to $29,260 if all the labor is donated.

Cupertino Rotary will fund its renovation of the tank house with funds raised at its annual golf tournament on May 5 at Deep Cliff Golf Course, 10700 Clubhouse Lane in Cupertino. Rotary invites all golfers from the community to contact Larry Dean at 408.252.0758 by April 30 for tickets.