‘Very ugly’ stucco building in Delano to get a facelift and a new tenant or tenants

A building that’s been a bit of a blight on the otherwise mostly quaint Delano neighborhood is about to get a facelift.

Almost a year ago, Tony Abdayem purchased the white stucco building at the southeast corner of Douglas and Seneca two doors down from his La Galette French Cafe & Bakery.

“I love that building,” Abdayem says.

Except he acknowledges it needs some help.

Now, he’s working with the city and its facade improvement program to remove what he calls the “very ugly” stucco that was put up sometime during the 1910 building’s history.

“We’re going to expose the brick,” Abdayem says. He says there’s “nice, beautiful brick behind it.”

He says there’s large, great windows, too, along Douglas and Seneca along with “beautiful woodwork” upstairs.

“It’s a beautiful upstairs,” Abdayem says.

“The city, they’ve been so impressed.”

He says the building is important because it’s something of the “entrance of Delano.”

“They were so happy when I approached them,” Abdayem says of city officials.

However, the process is taking longer than Abdayem originally planned. He says contractor Farha Construction likely will start remodeling in early March.

Abdayem plans to lease the building once work is done but not before then.

He says he’s open to anything except “absolutely no restaurant,” but it’s not because of increased competition.

“It’s not that. We don’t have enough parking in the back.”

Each floor of the two-story building is about 5,500 square feet.

Abdayem says he’d prefer one tenant take the entire building.

The building has been empty for a while. Before that, it was an appliance store.

Stephanie Wise of John T. Arnold Associates is handling leasing for the space.

Marty Moody of J.P. Weigand & Sons handled the deal for Abdayem’s purchase of the building.

When the building was built in 1910, its first occupant was Riley’s Drug Store. Then in 1927, Dockum Drug moved in.

Abdayem now owns all the property from the corner of Douglas and Seneca almost to the corner of Douglas and Walnut.

Coney Island Hot Weiners is opening at Douglas and Walnut, and Abdayem would like to own that property, too, though the hot dogs could remain.

“That way nobody interferes with the parking in the back,” he says.

Also, he says, “That was my dream.”

He says he figures if he owned all the property, it might appeal to someone to buy it in one large purchase some day.

“It would be my retirement,” he says. “One day. We’ll see.”

This story was originally published February 1, 2019 at 2:42 PM.