Corona Moving Forward With $250K Project To Partially Relocate Historic Depot Building

The Corona City Council this month made the decision to move forward with preserving a portion of the historic Corona Depot building.

“During the May 1 meeting, council discussed the potential of adopting a resolution to save the depot building,” Aminah Mears, assistant to the city manager, said. “And out of that same discussion, staff was asked to research options for relocating the structure to another part of the city.”

Mears presented the council with four options ranging from a zero cost option of doing nothing to an estimated $500,000 cost to deconstruct and relocate all “moveable” portions of the depot, including the general office, baggage area and waiting room with enclosed patio areas of the building.

“I want to note that the cost that you see listed here in each of the options is just for relocating the building,” she said. “Should council choose to move forward with relocating any or all parts of the structures that are movable, there will be substantial renovation costs to be incurred by the city.”

Mears said if the council were to move forward, Ganahl Lumber, which currently owns the property, would provide the city with $50,000 to help offset the cost.

“The depot was doomed, its location was doomed, you know, death of a thousand cuts,” Councilmember Wes Speake said. “I wish there was an opportunity for it to stay. I realize that Ganahl, you know, they’re expanding their business, but frankly, the folks who sat up here, you know, screwed the depot many, many years ago.”

Comments from community members varied, with some arguing that the city shouldn’t spend any money to preserve the structure.

“It’s privately owned, so the owner of the property gets to do what the owner of the property wants to do with it,” Don Fuller said. “So I think what you ought to do is cut the thing up and burn it and get rid of it, because nothing else is going to happen with this that is going to be of any value.”

Others, like Joe Morgan, said they couldn’t disagree more with Fuller’s statements.

“It’s a high-profile, well-known building despite what Mr. Fuller says, you know, particularly from people who grew up here,” Morgan said. “It has been continuously crapped on by development, and it’s getting crapped on again, and it doesn’t have to be that way. I hope we can do something with it.”

Despite his opposition to the relocation of the building, Fuller said that he would put up $1,000 of his own money if the council moved forward with the relocation and found a suitable place to put the building.

And while the council was mostly in support of preserving the historic structure, with the exception of Councilmember Tony Daddario who said he wished the building would have “burned down a long time ago,” they were split on what that preservation should look like.

“I think the waiting room, moving that and putting it at 6th [Street] and Buena Vista [Avenue], is probably our best bet of retaining that building,” Daddario said. “And then creatively we could rebuild it using some of that architectural salvage, but you’re gonna have to spend a lot of money to update that building.”

“I really think if we can do this right, it’s gonna be $2 to $3 million before it’s said and done,” Mayor Tom Richins who was in favor of relocating all moveable portions of the building. “And if we do it right, we’re really going to make this pop and look good, and those are my comments. So I’m all for the $500,000 option.”

“Thinking further along both about the space and how much it’s going to take to retrofit it, I think option two [relocating the waiting room and enclosed patio areas] is the most prudent approach,” Councilmember Jacque Casillas said.

With Casillas as the tie-breaking vote, the council came to a majority consensus to move forward with relocating the waiting room and enclosed patio areas of the building with an estimated cost of $250,000 to deconstruct and relocate the structure.

A full recording of the meeting can be found here on the city’s YouTube channel.