A 1929 Spanish Colonial Revival building on Bryant Street in downtown Palo Alto is at the center of an unusual fight over a single street tree. The building’s owner, KG-Bryant LLC, filed a lawsuit against the City of Palo Alto on Oct. 20, saying the roots of a city-owned tree pushed into the property and flooded its basement.
The company is asking for nearly $324,000, according to Hoodline’s report on the Santa Clara County Superior Court filing. The bulk of that money would pay to tear out the sidewalk, replace the waterproofing on the basement wall and plant a new tree.
A Basement the City Once Rented
The building at 518-526 Bryant Street is no ordinary storefront. City records describe it as a two-story, reinforced-concrete commercial building over a basement, designed by noted Palo Alto architect Birge M. Clark and built in 1929 as the Palo Alto Hardware Co. building. A city historic evaluation found it eligible for the California Register for its architecture and recommended it for the local historic inventory.
There is a twist in who was using the flooded space. KG-Bryant leased the basement at 526 Bryant to the city’s own Planning and Development Services Department until January of this year, according to the complaint as described by Hoodline. The building served as one of three city permitting locations, alongside City Hall and 285 Hamilton Avenue…