Harrison Ave. tenant, building changes coming

By Kathryn Reed

Harrison Avenue in South Lake Tahoe is about to be transformed again.

This time it will be the building that houses South Tahoe Stand Up Paddle and Rude Brothers Bagels. Locals John Cefalu and Mike McKeen closed escrow on the property last month and are in the process of renovating the building.

Renovation also means displacing the tenants.

“Because of the requirements the city has and building codes we are going to have to go through with some extensive demolition,” Cefalu told Lake Tahoe News. Plus, the building will need sprinklers put in.

All of this work can’t be done while tenants are in the building.

Rude Brothers got the news last week and has until the end of the month to move out. The paddleboard company is moving to the back of the building on a month-to-month lease that is valid through the summer season.

Lisa and Jim Gosh have owned the bagel shop for more than a dozen years, while the business has been in that location for more than 20. (Steve Rude started the business.)

“Right now Jim and Lisa are looking for a new location,” shop manager Andrea Reber told Lake Tahoe News. “We need a lot of room.”

She said with all of the equipment it will be hard to find the right place. Large mixers are in the back for making the bagels every day, even the cream cheese is made on location.

Chris Brackett, owner of the SUP shop, had hoped to purchase the property, but he said he lost the bidding war.

Bob Koser was Brackett’s original landlord. He passed away in November 2014. They had known each other since Brackett was a kid. For six years he managed the property for Koser.

Koser left the building to Small Victories Ministries in Illinois with the idea the organization would have sustained income through the rents, Brackett said. That clearly didn’t happen. The group instead sold the property to the highest bidder – the Cefalu-McKeen partnership.

“We will make it work. We will just have to,” Brackett said of working out of the smaller space in the back and not having a street front location. Long-term, though, he is considering all of his options.

Cefalu said he isn’t sure if the current tenants would be asked back. It depends on what the exact designs are. Dave Goldman has been hired as the architect.

The building is so old is must go through the historic site review as mandated by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency.

Cefalu described it as more like blight than historic. He remembers the front of the building being here when he came to the lake in 1957. The back was added on since then.

The apartment on the second floor has been demolished.

“I did verify that a demolition permit has been issued but it is only for interior demo work. We do not have any submittals that indicate how the space will be reconditioned or what it will be. We also do not have any applications for exterior changes,” Hilary Roverud, deputy director of development services with the city, told Lake Tahoe News.

Cefalu said the goal is to begin the substantive work on April 1 and be done by Aug. 1.

“We hope it will be an amenity and improve the appearance of the whole area with what I’ve done and what we intend to do,” Cefalu said. “There is still a lot more work to be done with other properties. I hope it becomes contagious with the other properties nearby that need improvement.”

Cefalu owns the Globin Building with the laundry facilities out front. McKeen owns the building occupied by Pinnacle realty.