Insurance company reopens historic downtown Oxnard building
By Stephanie Snyder, Ventura County Star, Calif. | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
The 9,000-square-foot property stands prominently on the corner of Fifth and A streets with rounded arches and high windows. Inside, there are shoe-sized indents in the floor where patrons once stood to speak with bank tellers at the marble countertop.
Now, contemporary workstations line the walls and a Ping-Pong table sits inside one of the vaults.
The 20-year-old company had been operating nearby out of another
But as the business was looking to expand by adding a handful of new employees to the 17-person team,
"Ultimately, we wanted to continue keeping our roots here in
"I wouldn't call it a revival of downtown, but a continued investment in downtown," Barkley said. "We saw this as an opportunity to revive a vacant, dilapidated building in downtown and we saw this as an opportunity for our agency and our firm to grow."
Levy started a freight forwarding business and began working with farmers to sell grain and commodities that he would ship to
"He became very well-off, but still was a man of great humbleness," Doner said. "People really related to him."
Levy "did business with people that he liked doing business with,"
The building's bow arch and Italian revival design also make it significant architecturally, Doner said. The building was completed by Levy's son in 1927 and designated a county landmark in 1979.
"We were looking for something unique. We weren't looking for a standard office space,"
Considering the decades of work his parents put into the home,
"The detailing of this building is really spectacular," he said. "Everything from the paint to some of the Gothic architecture to a lot of this stuff we had to keep because it's original from 1927, and we were happy to do that. We've kind of planned the space around the original features of the building."
But
"It was an accumulation of a lot of different issues from just the overall construction and design of renovating a building like this, and getting the permits and approvals to do certain things that we wanted to do," he said.
There were not a lot of renovations done to the first floor other than updating light fixtures, work stations and carpeting.
Most of the company's time, energy and money were spent altering the second floor because it had been modified by previous tenants and was not original to 1927.
A kitchen and break room area was created with sophisticated appliances and a big-screen TV. There's also an open lounge that overlooks the first floor of the building.
"It exceeded our initial budget, but we're ultimately happy with the outcome,"
"It's a stellar building, beautiful place," Magana said. "They've done a great job -- the new owners -- there, in terms of preserving the interior."
Within the last year, Magana said two other large commercial spaces that had been vacant have been sold, including the building next to the
"There's some action taking place," Magana said. "It's a sign that we're starting to see some renewed interest in investment in the area."
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(c)2014 Ventura County Star (Camarillo, Calif.)
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