By Linda Taaffe

Town Crier File Photo

Los Altos

Downtown Los Altos might not see a hotel at the city-owned lot on the corner of First and Main streets for at least another half-decade if the current business owners who lease the site have a say in the matter.

Johnny Crowell, co-owner of Home Consignment Center, the furniture store currently at the site, has stated in consecutive newspaper ads over recent weeks, “We are NOT leaving.”

Crowell said he still has a little more than five years left on his lease. Unless the city or the property developer makes him an offer to relocate the business, he plans to stay put. He notified city hall last month of his intention to take the five-year option on his lease this January.

Crowell said he ran the ads to squelch any rumors that his store is closing.

The city council earlier this year decided to move forward with the construction of a hotel at the .78-acre site after much public and controversial debate.

To accommodate such a plan, the current building, where Home Consignment Center and Nielsen’s Martinizing Dry Cleaning are located, would need to be razed. The council is currently in negotiations with developer Roxy Rapp.

Crowell said neither the city nor the developer have contacted him during the negotiations.

“The city and others have engaged in countless hours of discussion about the location, as if we did not exist,” Crowell said in the ad.

“These discussions and rumors have undoubtedly undermined our ability to conduct our business.”

Crowell said the merchandise at his Los Altos site has dropped in half since the rumors of his store’s closure began.

Crowell said customers bombard his staff daily with questions about the store’s closing date.

How to free up the land lease with the consignment center and the dry cleaners has remained a question mark at city hall.

City Manager Phil Rose has said he does not know if the developer or the city will be responsible for working with the current tenants. He was confident that the project would move forward before the lease’s expiration.

Rapp said shortly after the city began negotiating with him that he would be willing to work with the city to relocate the tenants.

The council voted earlier this year to allow for condemnation of the site if necessary. The city had also talked about a possible land swap near Second Street with the consignment center and dry cleaners. Rose could not comment further on the closed session discussions.

Crowell said he was never included in those discussions.

The city bought the Main Street property in 1995 with the long-term goal of improving the appearance of Main Street’s west entrance and creating more downtown parking. Shortly after the purchase, the city asked the Consignment Center to move into the site, Crowell said.

The city entered into a lease with the dry cleaners and the consignment store for five years, with an option to renew for another five years.

The current lease will expire in 2006.

“We have remained quiet during their assaults on our rights. We have not charged off and filed suit (yet),” Crowell said in the ad.