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After calling a temporary halt to plans to demolish the landmarked building she owns, Kathleen Garr said she’s about to give up—forced to surrender by the heavy costs she’d incur should she break her contract with developers. 

The Lafayette woman is the owner of the former dried coconut warehouse at 740 Heinz Ave., which once housed part of Durkee Famous Foods’ now-vanished Berkeley processing plant. 

“I was trying to work something out,” Garr said, “but the attorneys I’ve talked to said it would be very expensive.” 

City officials had suspended “red tag” fines imposed on the building because the structure is deemed seismically unsafe, thanks to the pending applications to demolish the structure and replace it with a new and much larger laboratory and manufacturing building. 

The package was assembled by developer Darrel De Tienne, who teamed up Garr with Wareham Development, the firm that owns buildings on either side of the building where Garr’s late husband once ran a plastics recycling business. 

“I couldn’t afford the fines, and I can’t afford to retrofit the building, so I may just have to go ahead and make this deal,” she said. 

Garr said she wished she’d known earlier that she could have found support from neighbors and West Berkeley activists who turned out to oppose the demolition at last Monday’s Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC). 

“Had I known about them, I would have done something earlier with their support,” she said. 

Garr cited ongoing health problems as another reason that adds urgency to her decision. 

“I just can’t afford the struggle,” she said. 

Garr’s building is one of three former Durkee’s structures the LPC landmarked on Aug. 6, 1985. 

Betsy Strange, a 27-year tenant of the former Durkee margarine plant at 800 Heinz Ave., remembers the process quite well. 

She moved into the building after earning a graduate degree from UC Berkeley in 1978. Along with other tenants, she chose the former processing plant because rents were cheap for space large enough to use as live/work units. 

When her corporate landlord went bankrupt and the land was sold at auction to Wareham in the first part of 1980’s, a five-year battle ensued in which landmarking played a significant role. 

The tenants were able to win the support of then-Mayor Loni Hancock and other city officials, eventually resulting in a formal agreement that placed the existing tenants under permanent protection of the city rent board for as long as they remain tenants of the building. 

Because the whole building is earmarked as affordable housing, rents for those who qualify for vacated spaces average between $700 and $900, while Strange and the remaining three originals pay less than $500. 

And while three buildings were landmarked, the agreement allowed demolition of two others, as well as the city’s last remaining industrial brick smokestack. 

Garr’s building was landmarked but was not involved in the Wareham settlement because it was the only former Durkee property under separate ownership. 

One aspect of the deal was never realized. The city awarded Wareham the first-ever cultural density bonus for setting aside one building for a theatrical troupe. 

“They were never able to find a tenant, so they were eventually allowed to rent it to Bayer for offices,” Strange said. 

Two of the original tenants testified at last Monday’s LPC meeting, John Shea and Weezie McAdams. Neither liked the current plans for the 105,800-square-foot four-story structure Wareham wants to build. 

“I’m appalled at the extra height and lack of setbacks,” said Shea. “After all these years of silence, this is what’s being offered.” 

“It’s very demoralizing and disturbing to see these plans,” McAdams told the LPC. “Basically, it’s a brick behemoth 81 feet high. “Our building would fall into shadow. It’s also very disturbing to think about that building (Garr’s) being demolished.” 

With other neighbors, she complained that she’d had trouble getting a look at any plans for the project, and saw her first draft at a meeting on July 7 attended by LPC Chair Jill Korte. 

“There were lots of concerns expressed by the tenants” of 800 Heinz, Korte told the LPC meeting. 

The commissioner also noted that the LPC can’t approve demolition without finding that it’s not feasible to preserve or restore the building. 

Corliss Lester, a post-accord tenant of 800 Heinz, said her unit would be cast into darkness if Wareham gets their way. “It’s three times larger than the landmark structure,” she told the LPC, “and it’s not being built for a specific tenant.” 

Lesser pleaded with the commissioners to scale down the plans to fit the character of the neighborhood. 

De Tienne filed an application to demolish the building in May, and city staff deemed it complete the following month. 

“We need to have a public hearing,” said Giselle Sorensen, the planning staffer assigned to the LPC. 

After hearing initial testimony, the commission continued the hearing until its next meeting on Aug. 8.