By Clarence Cromwell
Hunter/Storm, a Cupertino company that owns 14 shopping centers throughout the Bay Area, is buying the Argonaut Shopping Center on Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road.
Deke Hunter, co-owner of Hunter/Storm, said his company is considering the property because its expertise is in running centers much like Argonaut. Hunter and his partner, Ed Storm, also own Hamilton Plaza in Campbell and De Anza Plaza in Cupertino.
The property is in escrow until Feb. 15. Neither party would disclose the price settled on for the 90,000-square-foot center.
Current Argonaut owner Phil Sanfilippo, who is in his 80s, wanted to sell the property to get his affairs in order, said Garrett Rajkovich, Sanfilippo's property manager.
Hunter said Sanfilippo offered the property to his company before offering it on the general market because of a longstanding business relationship.
"Everyone's wanted to buy it for years and years, but these are the people he made a deal with," Rajkovich said.
The potential sale became publicly known when merchants got wind that Hunter/Storm would inspect their building prior to the sale for termites or structural damage.
Other minor shortcomings made Argonaut the subject of complaints to City Hall last spring. Residents phoned the city to report litter in the parking lot, dead trees and overgrown weeds, among other things. One woman gathered 170 signatures on a petition demanding a cleanup at the center. Sanfilippo eventually fixed everything citizens complained about.
Of Argonaut's 19 storefront units, three are currently vacant. The center's tenants include a Safeway supermarket, Longs Drugs and Citibank.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, Wednesday, January 24, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing Inc. All rights reserved.