Barry Swenson makes deep investment in downtown Santa Cruz since earthquake

Oct. 16--SANTA CRUZ -- There's hardly a block on Pacific Avenue that doesn't bear his mark.

In the 25 years since a 6.9-magnitude earthquake ripped downtown Santa Cruz apart at the seams, Barry Swenson has been working to put it back together again, starting with rebuilding the 1895 St. George Hotel, a Spanish Colonial Revival that contains the venerable Bookshop Santa Cruz.

Next door, Swenson and his company revived the 120-year-old Renaissance Revival landmark that is Santa Cruz County National Bank from two walls that were left standing after the temblor. It is now a hub for thriving businesses like NextSpace and Pacific Wave.

There's no debating that rebuilding downtown wouldn't have happened as quickly without Swenson. Barry Swenson Builder reports that his historic renovations and new building projects on Pacific Avenue and nearby streets represent $80 million and about a million square feet of space.

But for the San Jose-based Swenson, who is now 75, the deep investment in Santa Cruz was as much about a succession of business opportunities as an emotional connection with a city that goes back three generations, beginning with his grandfather Carl Swenson. The former alfalfa farmer built the landmark Palomar hotel, and Barry Swenson fondly remembers trips to the Beach Boardwalk led by his aunt Evelyn, now 101.

"Every kid loves Santa Cruz, and I loved it," Swenson said. "Our family has worked hard in Santa Cruz for generations."

In a rare interview, C. Barron Swenson, chairman of the board for the company now headed by son Case, reflected on the challenges he faced alongside other builders, property owners, merchants and city leaders in getting downtown back on its feet. Dozens of buildings on what was then called the Pacific Garden Mall were demolished during the quake or in the weeks and months that followed as retailers set up shop in tents.

In addition to developing a replica of the fire-ravaged St. George, which he bought prior to the earthquake, and the County Bank building, Swenson's company refurbished the Art Deco Del Mar Theater and transformed the Moderne-style Bank of America building into what became the home of New Leaf Market. He also built the five-floor University Town Center in place of the demolished Ford's department store, where one of three deaths took place downtown during the Oct. 17, 1989 quake centered in the Forest of Nisene Marks.

Rebuilding laid the foundation for Swenson's interest in a host of other commercial and housing projects since, including a much-publicized plan with another Pacific Avenue investor, the Santa Cruz Seaside Co., in recreating the La Bahia Hotel in front of Main Beach. That plan ultimately failed, but Swenson said, "The St. George, more than any, is the biggest challenge I had" downtown.

St. George Hotel

There was much debate about whether the structure should come down, including varying cost estimates and a threat from the National Trust for Historic Preservation to sue if federal emergency funds were used to tear it down. The tension came at a time when there was still great uproar over the demolition days after the quake of another iconic building, the Cooper House.

Swenson didn't believe the St. George was structurally secure and thought it best to demolish it in favor of a design that closely resembled the original, including a handsome bell tower.

"If I won't let my family go in there, I won't build it," he said.

Swenson laughed as he recalled returning to his San Jose home a year after the earthquake to find three FBI agents on his front porch. They told him the St. George had burned and they suspected he might have been responsible, a theory that held less water after they discovered he carried no fire insurance on the building.

The new building, a 124-unit residential hotel designed by Thacher and Thompson Architects, was completed in 1992. The two companies have worked a great deal together since.

Partner Matthew Thompson said the rebuilding of the St. George carried not just great economic value but important symbolic importance that the city could indeed remake its lost treasures. He said Swenson, through sheer determination, was critical in lining up the financing and political support for projects, and that in his absence, "We may have struggled a lot" to rebuild.

After Thompson and partner Tom Thacher surveyed the structure with hard hats, safety lights and walkie-talkies, they documented the original building as best they could. They designed a building that replaced single-occupancy rooms of about 300 square feet each, add an outdoor terrace and include a sun room inside the first-floor bookshop that paid homage to the previous hotel lobby.

"He was willing to take huge risks in investing and rebuilding, and he had the capacity to do it, which is rare," Thompson said of Swenson. "He takes the long view. He wasn't building to flip it. These were long-term investments."

Sheer determination

Part of the fun in working with Swenson, Thompson said, is his outsize personality. The 6-foot-2-inch tall and slim Swenson, often found in cowboy boots and always wearing a rimmed hat, is widely seen as having an indestructible will.

Especially in towns like Santa Cruz, which are famously difficult for building projects, "Developers don't have any interest in being household names," Thompson said. "But he is not bashful or embarrassed to be a developer. Thompson said Swenson is always the smartest person in the room, noting he can run numbers for a development deal in his head while simultaneously discussing the ins-and-outs of a baseball game.

"He is always keeping up or ahead of you."

Jesse Nickell, a longtime vice president at Barry Swenson Builder, said the main obstacle faced by Swenson during downtown rebuilding was financing. The earthquake hit in the middle of the savings and loan crisis and a sharp economic recession that contributed to the 1992 electoral loss of President George H.W. Bush, who traveled to Santa Cruz days after the quake to survey the damage.

"Lenders wouldn't give us money," Nickell said. "The challenge was you had to find tenants and have more than 50 percent and have leases signed before you could get the loan."

Swenson added a temporary one-ply roof to the top of the County Bank building, figuring it would be enough, along with the two existing walls, to convince merchants to sign on.

"He could see Santa Cruz was going to come back," Nickell said. "Nobody was rolling the dice like that."

Swenson said he got his determination from his grandfather, who in addition to the Palomar built the Galleria building where Swenson's Santa Cruz offices recently relocated from Live Oak.

"It's a blessing and a curse," Swenson said. "You have to be an optimist to be in this business."

The most rewarding part of his career has been doing historic rehabilitation, like the Del Mar Theater and New Leaf projects, he said.

"It was an exciting time," he said of the era after the earthquake. "It makes me feel good that we did all that."

Downtown commemoration

What: Commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the Loma Prieta earthquake, sponsored by the U.S. Geological Survey and Santa Cruz Downtown Association.

When: 10-11 a.m. Friday.

Where: Memorial Plaza at the corner of Pacific Avenue and Front Street.

Who: Vice Mayor Don Lane, Santa Cruz County Supervisor Neal Coonerty, retired City Manager Dick Wilson, officials from UC Santa Cruz, U.S. Geological Survey and American Red Cross.

Mountains Commemoration

What: Commemoration of the 1989 earthquake's impact on the Santa Cruz Mountains.

When: 4:30-6 p.m. Friday.

Where: Loma Prieta Elementary north campus gazebo, 23800 Summit Road, Los Gatos.

Details: Call 408-353-1106.

Loma Prieta Earthquake

Twenty-five years ago this week, at 5:04 p.m., on Oct. 17, 1989, a 6.9-magnitude earthquake centered below a redwood forest in Aptos shook Santa Cruz County along with much of Central and Northern California.

Six people lost their lives in the county and one more county resident died in San Francisco:

--John Anderson, 33, of Boulder Creek died when a wall of a San Francisco building fell on him.

Dale DeBenedetti, 27, of Aptos died on Highway 1 in Capitola when three horses spooked by the earthquake hit his truck.

--Shawn McCormick, 21, of Santa Cruz, died when a brick wall fell on the Santa Cruz Coffee Roasting Co. on the Pacific Garden Mall.

--Elida Ledesma Ortega, 44, of Watsonville, died as she threw her body over her grandson, protecting him from falling bricks at Watsonville'sBake Rite Bakery.

--Robin Ortiz, 22, of Santa Cruz died when a brick wall collapsed on her in the Santa Cruz Coffee Roasting Co.

--Kay Trieman, 75, of Santa Cruz died when Ford's Department Store on the Pacific Garden Mall caved in on her.

--Gary Phillip West, 41, a Napa resident, was killed at Bonny Doon Beach by an 80-foot section of a cliff collapsing.

More than 300 people were injured.

More than 3,000 people were left homeless.

Damage was estimated at close to $1 billion.

In downtown Santa Cruz, 20 buildings collapsed, displacing 50 businesses.

In downtown Watsonville, 30 buildings were demolished.

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