The City of Ukiah City announced Thursday it granted a conditional permit for demolition of the historic Palace Hotel after keeping a permit application secret for 10 days.
The decision triggered an immediate outcry from advocates locally and statewide for recycling the downtown landmark into a new commercial centerpiece.
“These sorts of statements and actions by the City Manager and Deputy City Manager are perfect examples of why we public members can’t trust their claims of transparency. Instead, it seems as if their aim is to prevent public participation and to act in secrecy,” said Dennis Crean of Ukiah.
The 133-year-old Palace’s fate has been the subject of a divisive community debate for months. Secrecy has enshrouded plans of the current owner, Jitu Ishwar, and those of the proposed new buyers who include the Guidiville Rancheria, a group of investors including the owner a Bay Area construction company who has secured the permit to tear down the building, and downtown restaurant owner Matt Talbert, who is listed in a demolition plan document as “Program Manager.
No one connected to the planned demolition project responded to requests for comment on the Palace’s planned demolition, including Ishwar, his attorney Steve Johnson of the law firm Mannon, King, Johnson and Wipf, Talbert or Ron Batiste, the owner of the Eagle Environmental Construction & Development Co. of Emeryville.
Unknown is whether Ishwar is still in escrow with the Guidiville tribe, which lost a bid earlier this year to secure $6.6 million in special state funding to demolish the Palace under the guise of conducting possible ground contamination studies. In contrast, the Emeryville firm is estimating demolition costs now at a fraction of that: $500,000.
Whether Ishwar’s Twin Investments LLC remains owner of the Palace site, or in partnership with others, the planned destruction of the 55,000 square-foot mostly brick structure will be a significant loss, according to nationally known preservation advocates.
“I am shocked and saddened to see that a conditional demolition permit has been issued for the Palace Hotel,” said Carolyn Kiernat, a principal in the noted architectural preservation firm of Page & Turnbull in San Francisco.
Kiernat and a team in 2023 prepared a Palace restoration plan for Ukiah investor Minal Shankar but owner Jitu Ishwar scuttled the deal in favor of another with the Guidiville Rancheria and a group of investors that purported to make him ‘whole’ for his 2019 investment.
Kiernat called it a ‘short-sighted approach to a historic building that could have been a catalyst for economic development in downtown.”
Local Palace advocates ripped city staff for keeping an application for demolition secret for 10 days after it was submitted by representatives of Ishwar.
“The city staff has clearly been hiding behind partial truths if not intentional obfuscation,” said Dennis Crean, a member of a Ukiah group challenging possible demolition. Plans to raze the Palace were first uncovered during review of documents submitted last October by the Guidiville tribe in support of securing $6.6 million in special state funding.
Crean lambasted the city’s stall over the 10 days in disclosing Ishwar’s intent.
“While working to approve a permit behind closed doors, they claimed they were simply preparing the owner’s permit application to share with the public and City Council. All the while they couldn’t even acknowledge the simple fact that a demolition permit application was received,” charged Crean.
The city’s decision is certain to prolong a divisive community controversy and it could spark potentially costly and lengthy litigation.
Demolition could happen within weeks although further submittals are required.
Deputy City Manager Shannon Riley in the city announcement Thursday said once a contractor is hired to do the work, a site plan, demolition schedule, encroachment permit, and traffic/street closure plan must be reviewed and approved before work can begin.
However, no further approvals from the City Council or other senior staff at City Hall are required under what Riley labels a “ministerial process.”
It is path city administrators including Riley and City Manager Sage Sangiacomo chose to take because they see the Palace issue simply as a “matter of public health and safety on private property.”
The ‘private property mantra’ has been embraced by City Hall to avoid dealing head on with how a structure that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places has been allowed to so seriously deteroriate over the last three decades under two ownerships, including Ishwar, a former president of the Greater Ukiah Chamber of Commerce.
The Palace’s planned demolition for now solely rests with Chief Building Official Matt Keizer.
Sangiacomo last November convinced the City Council to declare the Palace an “imminent hazard to people and property” in the surrounding area based on findings of city building and fire inspectors, but not on opinions of professional engineers, architects, or contractors who believe the landmark can be recycled into new uses including a boutique hotel and bar/restaurant.
Riley in Thursday’s announcement defended the city’s demolition permit approval, contending that it “cannot force a private property owner to take on a project that is economically infeasible.”
Riley said any new development will need to “comply with the downtown zoning code.”
“As part of that pre-development process, there will be opportunities for public input,” said Riley.
Riley concluded by declaring that “while this outcome may disappoint some, it is also an important first step to getting a vibrant, safe, anchor building in Ukiah’s historic downtown.”
Kiernat of Page & Turnbull was not reassured.
Kiernat listed in writing what she called the “saddest part of this saga.”
- The City of Ukiah does not have a preservation ordinance like many California cities “so there is nothing to prevent this from happening again in the future.”
- A structural assessment by a licensed structural engineer was not required by the city to prove that demolition was the only viable recourse.
- The city of Ukiah self-nominated to become a “Preserve America City” under the Advisory Council for Historic Preservation’s national preservation program.
- There were willing buyers who showed they were interested in and able to make a significant financial investment that would have revitalized this property.
Now let’s embrace the new anchor center in Ukiah and make this a worthy piece of the city’s pride. Let’s move on to new challenges for Ukiah.
This must be a joke right? Why destroy architecture built to be art, and replace it with the same bland structures we’ve been building for decades?
It’s obvious you serve yourself and money and have no real interest in the community.
How presumptuous/ironic of you to judge me. Perhaps just perhaps anyone under the age of 40 has no memory of this building being anything but an eye sore and doesn’t care about your feelings in regard to your version of so-called art.
Agree 100%.
Have a big sale of the old bricks , there will be a lot of them!
Oh good. Bum, immigrant and drug growth is the only growth we have seen in a long time. Now let’s build something for the kids to do.
I think that the City is way out in left field in issuing a permit to demolish the Palace Hotel. The Palace Hotel is Private Property. The City declared an emergency relative to health and safety issues seven, yes 7, months ago – November 2023 – and they did nothing these last seven months. They had required an engineering report on the building from the owner, but then decided that they did not want that after all. You may have seen the scaffolding – the City did not require or install it – that was done by the owner (according to Shannon Riley, Deputy City Manager.) The City declared an emergency in relation to public health and safety, but the City waited and waited and did nothing – apparently they did not think it an emergency after all.
The declaration of an emergency did have one rather large effect; If public health and safety
are at risk, and the City makes such a declaration , then the building, even though it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, even if it is Private Property, can be torn down with no further recourse from anyone. Looks like the fix is in folks…but wait.
Does it not seem that the total inaction by the City, for 7 months and counting, to require any
action at all relative to their “public health and safety” declaration, including abandoning their
ask for an engineering report, say something about their declaration? Does the inaction not mean that they are not really serious about the danger to “public health and safety?” The Palace is Private Property, after all, and the City has said, over and over again, that they have
no control over Private Property, yet they have set this thing up so that the Palace can be torn down with no recourse, no CEQA, no environmental impact statement, no nothing. The Palace IS Private Property.
This seems really scary to me – If the City, with a simple, perhaps erroneous, declaration can bring about the destruction of a building belonging to a private citizen with no recourse, no outside engineering reports, with nothing more than the stroke of a pen, then I think that we should all very afraid. What will they come for next? What if the City Manager should decide that he does not like gun shops? Or dispensaries? Or your house? Too bad pal – health and safety rule….
It’s an obvious case of corruption.
It seems like you’ve done well in following the situation develop and have a good understanding of what’s going on. I’m newer to the area and definitely don’t know everything about this or the people involved, but I do know greed when I see it.
Someone or an organization with money, who cares about this city, should hire a private investigator to investigate Deputy City Manager Shannon Riley. It’s clear the city leadership has an anti-democratic agenda, but there had to be a specific reason they are helping this project. They could just be trying to raise tax revenue, which they hope to see benefits of, but it’s more likely they were offered specific incentives (aka bribes). I doubt she is that experienced with hiding bribes and a good PI could probably unravel the truth.
I think that it is a bit early to start charging the City Staff or the City Council with bribery or corruption and I hope that nothing I have said has brought you to that point. I would suggest that you read Mike Geniella’s past articles for a greater understanding of what has transpired thus far.
Of course, we do not know the whole story yet; a secret group of investors joined up with the Guidiville Rancheria to request a more that $6,000,000.00 grant to demolish the Palace under the guise of looking for contamination. Somebody would stand to make some money there since it has been estimated that demolition would cost $500,000.00.
The obvious reply that the City might make to my charge that they are coming after the Palace is to say that they are simply approving the request to demolish it that has come from the owner. That is true, of course, but it looks to me like the City has deliberately set up the Palace to be torn down with no recourse by declaring a bogus public safety emergency. Without the “emergency” related to public safety there would be a lot of hurdles and red tape that anyone wanting to tear down a historic structure would have to go through.
The City wants desperately to appear neutral, but in fact they have a very heavy thumb on the scales…
An investigation is clearly in order. The Palace is at the center of our history. What is wrong with these people.
This is terrible news for a Historic building in our downtown Ukiah. It’s very apparent that there’s people behind this that are not identified. Too much inaction by the City for decades, not holding owners accountable for its continued decline. There’s salvageable materials in that building and on it’s facade. This building could be saved, many restoration professionals have said that. Tourists love to come to historic haunted hotels. People can say whatever they want. This action is not right! It stinks to high heaven. The city doesn’t give a hoot that it’s on the National Register of Historical Places, that’s obvious by their actions. Look out! There’s other buildings around town, your building could be next.
Please stop destroying history. Aren’t there federal funds to restore buildings of historical value.
Ukiah resident of 46 years here. I/we teenagers used to break into that place to drink, smoke & explore back in the 90s. It was never open in my conscious memory & it’s been sitting there growing old, weak & purposeless my whole life. Change is always difficult &, in some cases, a killer of nostalgia. Outside of the baby boomer generation, & possibly early gen-x’ers, I don’t think anyone has a memory of being in, or seeing that building used, for any reason other than housing the unfortunate homeless or as a safe haven for the debauchery of the youth. I don’t think it’s served either of those purposes in recent years. Let the romance of a bygone era die & make way for the rebirth of something new for future generations to forge fond memories with. It’s time!
I think it’s possible that I might have snuck into the Palace with you back in the day. I remember pounding Keystone Ice in there during and after high school with random people. Most lived next door in “The Crappy”. Then getting chased out by the cops. But I do remember going into The Palace in the early 80s with my parents when they had a haunted house in the basement for the kids. The parents would get drunk up in the bar and the kids had a haunted house in the basement/parking lot area. I’m 48 and have early vague memories of the Palace hotel while it was still open. Tear it down before an earthquake brings it down on our heads and kills people.
Look how many commercial properties that are up for sale on State Street. The town couldn’t sustain a chain department store (JCP) and there aren’t that many places to shop in town, Kohl’s is next. Investors like a return on their investment, Ukiah is a high risk investment, period!
JCP has been in perpetual bankruptcy for several years. Ukiah seems to be the last place they closed up their dying business model. Lucky’s has been replaced in the bigger cities by better grocery chains. Lucky’s is next to be replaced. Ukiah could support a dedicated pet store. Lots pets in Ukiah area.
I say replace Lucky’s with Whole Foods after all
the Ukiah co-op certainly deserves some healthy local competition.
In my opinion they have basically and for the most part been running a monopoly unchallenged and gouging customers for approaching five decades now.
I see a good opportunity there for a little fairness and diversity and a better option for some of the co-ops low on the totem pole and expendable employees.
..Or a Trader joes. I do agree with you. Costco took 12 years to break the through the local politics of this area. If the process to bring business in was more streamlined or otherwise known as ministerial, there would be more anchor stores to bring about more competition and bring down price gouging in this area.
Yes absolutely Trader joes would be great! Or even Olivers market if they venture anywhere other than Sonoma County.
There over 600 JCPenney in the U.S. are still open.
JCP was in a chapter 11 bankruptcy and loss about 200 JCP stores throughout the country in 2021. Ukiah is just one of those 200 store closures. JCP isn’t exactly thriving and the bleeding hasn’t stopped. Sears took many years to finally succumb to the reality that it’s business model isn’t viable anymore.
Yay!
This is wonderful news for our community. Is a post covid golden age finally beginning?
Most cities regret losing the old landmarks in the future. They love to embrace the modern progress until all the charm is gone.
Unfortunately, you are correct. We already regret their actions. Old brick and tile facade, giant bar, stacks of cast iron tubs for the hotel. The courtyard area. This is a substantial piece of property, that is worth the effort to restore. Now the end is near…History
Make regular trips to Ukiah for medical appointments and had hoped for a rejuvenation of the Palace Hotel. Anyway you look at it a lot of money will be spent on that location, but to lose history in the process is sad. Yes a bit of a preservationist here. Was raised in a small southwest Nebraska town but barely recognize downtown when I go back as most of the buildings which were constructed in the 1880’s with bricks made in the local brick factory have all been demolished. Can’t get it back once you destroy historical buildings. And part of the history is also lost.
Fix it up or tear it down. Continuation of the status quo is unacceptable as this place has turned into a public nuisance.
There’s a little business that’s overshadowed by that looming monstrosity known as ThePalace. It’s called Namaste Cafe. They have good snacks and drinks and cool plants and classes. And nearby Mama’s Medicinals is an awesome little place that makes good healthy skin products right there from scratch. Make new space for the young people who are trying to build their community.
Stop crying about your old bar not being open anymore.
Why did you not mention Bead Fever?
Susan (Susie) Billy is a lifetime local resident and she is a proud Tribal member and an amazing Pomo Basket maker.Her establishment has been there for at least thirty years or longer.
Of course, how could I forget!
An example of better thinkers…
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/06/04/unlocked-indiana-abandoned-baseball-stadium-apartment-building.html
The Palace Hotel could be beautiful downtown housing with a restaurant underneath, or many other things.