Will Seven Oaks be saved?

"We're a nonprofit - we don't have the resources to do it," said Rigo Chacon, who heads up Abrazos & Books.

Unfortunately, city officials - who've been battling for years to save the home - are in the same boat.

As first reported in the Daily Journal April 10, the city filed a lawsuit to save the home from demolition. In a surprise twist, the Giannini estate donated Seven Oaks to Abrazos & Books in the following weeks.

Since then, Chacon's been working with city officials to find a solution that will simultaneously save the house and benefit Abrazos & Books. The idea on the table right now is that the nonprofit will put Seven Oaks back on the market.

The city would win because the home would be maintained by a private owner. Abrazos & Books would benefit from the scholarship money the sale of the house would rake in.

Before that can all happen, a few questions remain. Who will pay to restore the home? Will anyone take on the home in its current state?

Who's responsible?

As the owner of the home, City Attorney Shawn Mason has said Abrazos & Books would be responsible for the home's restoration. Mason has said the city's pockets are empty.

The $6 million restoration figure was quoted by the estate, Chacon said. Without that restoration, Chacon said he's not sure if the home can be put on the market. Not only will it be tougher to attract a private buyer, he said, but there could be liability issues involved as well.

Mitch Postel of the San Mateo County Historical Association toured the house for the city in 1999. He said he thinks a family might be able to move into the house in its current state - and that $6 million in repairs may be unnecessary.

"Except for a lot of cob webs, it was in pretty good shape," Postel said of the house's condition in 1999. "There was a bunch of mold that attacked the house, but that was about it."

The only problem was that the roof was water damaged at the time; Postel said he doesn't know how much it's deteriorated since then.

"It all depends on how far gone it is by now. Five years is a long time, especially if the roof was leaking," he said.

The $6 million figure probably includes costs for retrofitting the old home, Postel said. He doesn't think the home needs to be retrofitted for a family to occupy the house.

"If you get someone who's handy, it could be a nice fixer-upper," Postel said.

From an architectural standpoint, Postel said the turn-of-the-century tudor home is priceless. Postel doesn't think it'll be tough to find someone willing to buy the house in its current condition; in fact, he knows of some people interested in taking on the project.

The house now

Meanwhile, the city officials are getting ready to inspect the house for the first time in five years within the next few weeks. Postel will join the tour.

The last time city officials inspected the house was in July 1999. After the inspection, Councilwoman Sue Lempert said the city sent the estate a list of upkept items. When city officials followed up on the upkeep several months later, Lempert said they found the estate wasn't performing the tasks asked of it.

"They affirmed that the house was being maintained, but I don't think it was," Lempert said. "There were a lot of complaints from neighbors."

The potentially astronomical restoration costs could've been significantly curbed if the estate had acted sooner, she said.

"All these delays are certainly adding to the costs," Lempert said. "If they'd performed the improvements after the first inspection, the house would have been in better condition from the get-go."

The expansion of the three-bedroom, two-bathroom in the 1930s and 1940s led to water damage and mold, said a friend of the estate last month. The friend, who wished to remain anonymous, said the executors invested considerable time into the home's upkeep despite reports to the contrary.

"It was a mess when they got it," the friend told the Daily Journal last month. "They had professional people come clean it because they didn't want it to just be abandoned."

A gardener and pest control company have been visiting the home regularly, said the friend.

In the meantime, Chacon said the nonprofit is paying for upkeep costs like landscaping and pest control. Since the organization has owned the home for just five weeks, Chacon said he can't give an accurate estimate of how much the upkeep is costing. In any case, he said the sooner a resolution is made, the better.

"We're not in a position to keep absorbing these costs," Chacon said.

Yunmi Choi can be reached by e-mail at yunmi@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 109. What do you think of this story? Send a letter to the editor: letters@smdailyjournal.com.