DAVID SIDERS
STOCKTON – An Oakland retailer said Tuesday that he will build a furniture shop and a Greek cafe in


downtown’s B&M Building, a historic hotel city officials tentatively have agreed to sell.

A Black Sea Gallery store likely will open in fall 2014, said Mike Sarimsakci, president of Black Sea Gallery Development LLC. It is evidence that the renovated downtown can attract some retail business, despite the industry’s general preference for outlying Stockton, officials said.

The vacant, three-story, Italian-style B&M Building, between the renovated Hotel Stockton and City Centre Cinemas 16, was built in the late 1860s and is a designated Stockton landmark. It was occupied by a state parole office when the city paid $592,000 for it in 2001.

The City Council, acting in its role as the Redevelopment Agency, voted without dissent Tuesday to negotiate a sale of the building to Black Sea Gallery. Staff expected to sell the building for $600,000.

City Manager Gordon Palmer said the deal would fit “another piece of the puzzle” into the redevelopment of downtown. Redevelopment Director Steve Pinkerton said the trendy retailer would attract the same youthful crowd that patronizes the movie theater.

Black Sea Gallery, which has 11 stores in Northern California, is expanding into the Central Valley. Officials are considering moving the chain’s distribution center from Oakland to Stockton because of the city’s central location and access to Interstate 5 and Highway 99.

Sarimsakci said his move to Stockton is in part to follow his Bay Area clients, many of whom have sold their homes and moved to San Joaquin County, where their money could buy larger houses.

“They need furniture now,” he said.

And, perhaps, a cafe with goat cheese and walnuts on its menu. The restaurant will sell salads, soups, sandwiches, and organic coffee and tea, according to the company’s proposal for the building. It will open early and close late, with outdoor seating, Sarimsakci said.

Cultural Heritage Board Vice Chairman Paul Rapp said the project is a victory for the B&M Building; preservationists have encouraged the reuse of old buildings, calling that the most natural and appealing way to preserve them.

Contact reporter David Siders at (209) 943-8580 or dsiders@recordnet.com. Visit his blog at http://online.recordnet.com/blogs/?q=blog/13