A local real estate broker and her husband are pushing plans to reopen the long-shuttered storybook firehouse on Mountain Boulevard in Oakland’s Montclair district.
Nancy and Tom Lehrkind are lobbying the Oakland City Council for permission to renovate and retrofit the long-shuttered historic fire station in Oakland’s Montclair district for use as the Montclair Firehouse Arts Center. (Ginny Prior for Bay Area News Group)
Nancy Lehrkind with The Grubb Co. Realtors and her husband, Tom, are lobbying the Oakland City Council for permission to renovate and retrofit the historic fire station for use as the Montclair Firehouse Arts Center.
“It can be done for $420,000,” says Nancy, who adds that she has the budget and the plans to start work as soon as the city grants a lease to her nonprofit board of directors. “The plans would include a handicap lift, a firehouse museum where they used to store the hook-and-ladder trucks, and the beautiful 50-by-25-foot social hall would be restored as a performing arts center,” she says.
Art shows and concerts would be approved by an auxiliary board made up of local painters, sculptors and performing artists.
“People could come and see the firehouse museum and go upstairs to see whatever the artists had on the walls and stay for a Mozart trio,” says Nancy.
True to her Realtor roots, she says she would use a lock box on the door and give artists and community groups the code when they wanted to use the firehouse for a nominal fee. The Lehrkinds have a track record for rejuvenating city-owned properties by spearheading the successful development of the Piedmont Center for the Arts. Also, a recent change to California’s Surplus Land Act would let Oakland lease this building for community use instead of low-income housing, as the law originally mandated.
The firehouse has fallen prey to all kinds of nefarious acts since it closed in the 1980s. Squatters and vandals have trashed the inside of the building, spray painted graffiti on the walls and even shot the outside lights out. However, the Lehrkinds, who have connections and expertise in fixing up properties, say they see tremendous potential for a much-needed community space in Montclair and just need to convince the city to act. If you’d like to sign a petition and get more information, see their website at montclairfirehouseartscenter.org.
Banking business: Chase Bank opened a new branch this week in the former First Republic Bank site at 2110 Mountain Blvd.
After a furious final push to get the landscaping and paving done, the new branch welcomed the staff from its long-established location, just blocks away at 2051 Mountain Blvd. Both branches will continue to operate for the time being, since there are several years left on the lease for the older branch at the corner of La Salle and Mountain.
Related Articles
Eye on the Hills: Montclair Railroad Trail to host new Halloween fun run
Eye on the Hills: Laughing Buddha serves up exotic Chinese veggies on Piedmont Avenue
Eye on the Hills: ‘Mornings with Madden’ book to be released soon
Halloween revisited: The black cats and ghouls are back at The Fat Lady Restaurant & Bar near Jack London Square. The Rossi family, its longtime owners, took a hiatus from decorating during the COVID-19 pandemic and just returned to their more than 30-year-old tradition a few weeks ago.
The giant skulls behind the bar, plus enough specters to create a spectacle, took about 60 hours to unpack and hang in the dimly lit art nouveau establishment. Sisters Lisa and Laura Rossi worked round the clock, sleeping in two-hour shifts, using Halloween decor that their mom, Pat, has collected over decades.
They had help from several others, including servers Shane Clabaugh and Iliana Ballesteros. The decorations will be up through Nov. 15.
Ginny Prior can be reached at ginnyprior@hotmail.com and followed on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, Facebook and at ginnyprior.com.