The Willow Glen Resident

Beauty college gets new look-but for whom?

By Christine Frey

The old Willow Glen Beauty College building is scheduled to get some beauty treatments of its own starting this week, but its new occupant has not yet been determined. Tenant Scott Kuschel says that during the next four to six months, workers from the Palm Haven Group will be remodeling the rundown exterior of the building. In the first phase of the construction, workers will remove shrubbery and stucco and erect beams.

Over the past few months, Kuschel has been in "serious negotiations" with officials from an upscale market who are interested in opening another store in the Willow Street building, he said. Kuschel declined to name the market, but added that if the talks are successful the market could open by October.

"We feel that it's something that the area needs," he said of the store, which would bring high-quality bakery, deli and produce products to Willow Glen. "We're envisioning everything to be the best."

Kuschel said that talks will conclude in about a month. If the negotiations fall through, he said, he may create an investment group to fund the market. He said that several members of the community have expressed interest in the idea, but he needs more support.

"If we can successfully pull together a group, we will," he said. "If not, then I won't say who'll be in there."

The Willow Glen Beauty College was closed in 1996 by the U.S. Department of Education for having an excessive number of student-loan breaches on record.

Kuschel scrapped his previous plans for putting in a health spa after holding a Feb. 11 community meeting, at which most of the 50 people attending said they wanted to see an upscale market in the building.

[ Back to Contents Page | Willow Glen Resident Home Page | Archives ]