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PAHC Press Corner

HOUSING: Barker Hotel Reopens

Residents return to find that the only thing unchanged is the rent.

PALO ALTO WEEKLY - Publication Date: Wednesday Feb 8, 1995
by Peter Gauvin

Ten months ago, Raymond Farhart and 18 other tenants had to move out of the 70-year-old Barker Hotel downtown so it could undergo a major renovation. Farhart was provided a room at the more expensive Craig Hotel and was given assistance to keep his rent at $250 a month.

"I thought of it as a paid vacation, because I had been (at the Barker) since 1976 and it was getting me down," said Farhart, 58, who receives $680 a month in Supplemental Social Security Income, plus Medicaid.

On Tuesday of this week, Farhart and nine other original tenants were scheduled to return to the Barker, once known as one of the seedier residential hotels downtown, following its $3 million purchase and renovation by the Palo Alto Housing Corp.

"It feels like a different building. I expect I'll be very happy there," Farhart said after touring his old room during a ribbon-cutting ceremony last week.
"All the returning residents were astonished with the transformation," said Valerie Glassford, a property supervisor who oversaw the project for the Housing Corporation. "There's all new furniture and all the rooms are now light and bright."

A few years ago, the Barker, located on Emerson Street between University and Lytton avenues, was under the threat of being converted to commercial office space, further reducing the stock of affordable housing in Palo Alto.

With help from city and federal subsidies, the Housing Corporation eventually bought it for $1.9 million, said Marlene Prendergast, executive director of PAHC. The renovation and other costs brought the total project cost to about $3 million.

The high cost of retaining the Barker as affordable housing--$83,500 per unit--was the subject of some criticism, but that's the cost of doing such renovations, Prendergast said. "It's a lot, but it's a good result."

The hotel has been upgraded to meet seismic standards. The single-occupancy rooms are outfitted modestly but neatly with new pine furniture, including a single bed, a chest of drawers, a chair, a closet, a lamp and window blinds. Rents will still be around $250 a month. The four deluxe rooms that include a sink and toilet will be rented for $433 a month.

Along with renovating the 21 existing rooms, five handicapped-accessible units were added on the bottom floor.

Glassford said the Barker had only two female tenants originally, but now there will be six. "It appears all of the rooms will be rented immediately", she said.

To be eligible, the majority of the residents can not earn more than $15,400 a year, Glassford said. Five tenants can earn up to $22,000. Returning residents will pay the same rent they did when they left.

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