By David Siders
STOCKTON – The City Council voted Tuesday to sell a historic downtown hotel for $600,000 to an Oakland

retailer who has committed to building a Greek cafe and furniture store.

The sale, approved 7-0, was embraced by civic leaders who said the deal proves retailers can be lured downtown, and by local preservationists who said it suggests at least some old buildings are useful and can be saved.

A Black Sea Gallery and a cafe are to open this fall in the vacant B&M Building, between the Hotel Stockton and City Centre Cinemas 16, according to the deal.

“We’re excited as can be,” Stockton Cultural Heritage Board Chairman Paul Rapp said. “It’s what we’re talking about, a reactivation of historic buildings.”

Black Sea Gallery has 11 stores in Northern California. Mike Sarimsakci, president of Black Sea Gallery Development LLC, said coming to Stockton could capture revenue that might otherwise be spent on furniture in Sacramento or San Francisco.

“For the downtown, this is a major retailer,” Downtown Stockton Alliance Executive Director Kathy Miller said Tuesday.

The B&M Building was used as a hotel when it was built in the late 1860s. Most recently, it was used by a state parole office when the city bought it for $592,000 in 2001.

No one has publicly opposed the sale.

Contact reporter David Siders at (209) 943-8580 or dsiders@recordnet.com. Visit his blog.