PV Arts, owner of Pajaronian vie for Porter Building

WATSONVILLE—Two local institutions will vie for control of the historic Porter Building, a City of Watsonville-owned property at the gateway of downtown, at tonight’s Watsonville City Council meeting. 

Pajaro Valley Arts and WatsNews LLC, the owner of the Pajaronian, will present their respective plans for the two-story, 15,000-square-foot building, which has stood at the corner of Main Street and Maple Avenue since 1903.

PV Arts, also known as the Pajaro Valley Arts Council, a nonprofit established in 1984, seeks to establish a gallery exhibit and retail space on the ground floor, according to the prepared staff report.

The retail space will support local artists for sales that will provide revenue for PV Arts and artists, the staff report reads. The ground floor will also include a multipurpose room for performances, meetings, events, receptions, workshops and additional special exhibits. Upstairs will be used as classroom space for seniors and young people and artist studios.

WatsNews LLC, a company established by Santa Cruz Good Times owner and executive editor Dan Pulcrano in 2019 after he purchased the 152-year-old Pajaronian, “proposes an investment in the building that is also consistent with the development objectives of this property and is innovative,” the staff report reads.

According to the staff report, that proposal includes a casual dining restaurant emphasizing locally-sourced ingredients, and a destination wine bar and food market highlighting Santa Cruz Mountains vineyards, Pajaro Valley farms and artisanal producers. The top floor will house a boutique micro-hotel and a creative space for community institutions as well as the Pajaronian business offices, the staff report reads.

The council will make a decision on a possible sale or lease at its Nov. 10 meeting.

The meeting’s evening session is set to begin at 5:30pm. To participate click here. 

Click here for the meeting’s complete agenda. 

The City issued a request for proposals in November 2019. The council was set to review the proposals earlier this year, but the Covid-19 pandemic shelved those plans.

The original RFP said it wanted proposals that would maximize the building’s potential by bringing an entertainment or retail-related business to the first floor.

The building was nearly sold in 2015 after Ceiba College Prep Academy moved out, but a deal with Walnut Creek’s Novin Development fell through. 

It has sat empty since. 

The building served as the post office until 1913 and has also served as a dentist office and an army surplus store. 

It was one of the few historic buildings in Watsonville’s downtown that survived the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake with minimal damage.

An appraisal of the building in August 2018 determined its market value to be $1.35 million.