By Mary Beth Hislop
 Mark Feathers, left, has moved Investors Prime Fund of Palo Alto to Main Street. Christine Corso and Jason Tola of SB Capital, which manages the fund, will also move to the Los Altos office. |
Who’s coming, who’s going, who’s gone and what’s going on? Get the lowdown on the downtown – we’re keeping your nose in business.
Capitalizing on empty space
Welcome to Investors Prime Fund, which is moving its Palo Alto office to the lower-level offices at 4 Main St., according to Los Altos resident Mark Feathers. Managed by SB Capital of which Feathers is CEO, approximately 100 investors fund the company.
And though Citibank might be concerned about competition from the investment fund next door, Feathers has a history of keeping a bank’s money safe. Longtime readers of the Town Crier may recall Feathers made front-page headlines in July 2001, heralded as a hero for tackling a then-alleged bank robber who had the gall (or stupidity, some might say) to rob Sequoia National Bank in San Francisco – and aced his fate by robbing the same bank the next day.
An employee of the bank at the time, Feathers and two others pursued the suspect on foot through the streets of San Francisco, a la Karl Malden and Michael Douglas. Feathers finally tackled the fugitive, who weighed 60 pounds more and stood (before the tackle), two inches taller than Feathers.
Feathers anticipates excitement in Los Altos, too – being able to have lunch at Maltby’s with his wife, Natalie Taaffe, who works at Vineyard Bank, the sister of former Town Crier associate editor and staff writer Linda Taaffe, who reported Feathers’ heroic deed.
Permits and partitioning
Moving up Main Street, the work to partition the property at 266 and 270 began when city officials approved the permits. Four studly workers with Kizer Construction were busy nailing 2-by-4-inch studs (actually, I caught the workers not working April 25 – they were eating) in the area that once bridged retail space in the two buildings housing Acacia C.
Construction company owner Kim Kizer expected work to be completed early last week. And since the studs were drywalled and plastered by April 29 (the wood studs, not the guys), I’ll make a safe assumption that the lunch break didn’t last four days.
Both sides of the wall now need only a coat of paint, according to building owner Bruno Marcel, who is predisposed to red, but will leave the decision on color to the new tenants.
Marcel also needs another tenant – one of the expected leases fell through. Marcel said he’s taking his time to ensure that any prospective merchant will be a good fit for the Los Altos community. Rumor has it that it might be a chocolate shop – which might be a good fit for the neighborhood but will do nothing to help me fit into a size 4.
Blue ribbon, not the beer
Across Main Street at 397, several members of the Los Altos Chamber of Commerce officially welcomed Fernando and Cynthia Urroz, owners of L’Acquolina restaurant, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony April 29.
“We used our standard-issue scissors that don’t cut anything,” said Gayle Carter, chamber executive assistant. “It’s ceremonial.”
“Cynthia and Julie put me up to it (the formal ceremony),” Fernando said, referring to his wife and chamber president Julie Rose. L’Acquolina opened for business Jan. 19.
Carter said Los Altos Mayor Val Carpenter made the welcoming statements.
Guests enjoyed complimentary hors d’oeuvres, and when L’Acquolina’s grand-opening ceremony was over, “a few of stayed on and bought some more,” Carter said.
Fernando said several guests stayed to celebrate the newly established Happy Hour, which started the last week of April. Weekdays 4-6 p.m., customers can enjoy drinks from the bar at reduced prices and entrees from the tapas menu.
“It was very good,” Carter said. “Delicious.”
Fernando said he is proud to be an official member of the business community.
“It is that piece of paper that makes all the difference,” he said, laughing.
Purple hearts
In the interest of promoting community unity and all that stuff, staff at Campi Properties recently decorated the inside and outside of its office at 195 S. San Antonio Road – purple balloons, purple streamers, Prince’s socks …
According to Donna McCarthy, who works at Campi Properties, the business received a letter from – the city? Chamber of Commerce? she’s not sure who – requesting Los Altos merchants to decorate offices in purple to commemorate – National Cancer Month? Skin Cancer Awareness Month? Relay For Life? – she’s not sure which. And so they did.
Bummer is, she hasn’t spotted any other merchants in town who went to the trouble of trying to bring indigo back in style. So McCarthy called the Town Crier to rush a photographer over to take a picture of all their hard work before office staff sucked all the helium out of the balloons and to send all you nondecorated establishments on the trip of your life – guilt.
What else is happening?
After 31 years downtown, Los Altos Coffee Shop has vacated its Second Street digs - we’ll catch you up soon. And, there’s free ice cream at Baskin-Robbins on May 21 – catch is, it’s Soft Serve ice cream and you have to be pregnant.
Contact Mary Beth Hislop at marybethh@latc.com.
