News

Magnificent Restoration
Bellovin & Karnas Building

by Thomas Whittingslow
Downtown Tucsonan

When personal-injury attorneys Barry Bellovin and David Karnas started looking for a permanent location, they had three criteria in mind: First, their office must be within walking distance of the federal, state, and bankruptcy courthouses. Second, the office had to have adequate off-street parking so that clients could walk directly into the building without climbing steps. Finally, it had to have the potential of becoming a valuable real-estate asset. After occupying their 6,300-square-foot Chicago vault-style building at 131 E. Broadway Blvd., they believe they have achieved all three objectives.

“We bought the property in the spring of ’05 and moved in about a year later. We worked with Brian Barker of Barker-Morrissey Contracting and the architect Martin Stickley. After my partner and I input our ideas,” said Bellovin, “we worked with two interior designers—the architect’s wife, Linda Stickley, of the Stickley Design Group, and Annie Lewis, of Buzz Isaacson’s office.” The Chicago vault-style building blends nicely with other downtown structures like the Train Depot. The original brick that had been removed in one section was retained and used as accent in another. The interior blends old and new, mixing wood with stained concrete and exposed brick with steel girders. The exposed-brick interiors with oversized original paintings off the lobby make a powerful design statement. Bellovin admits that he and Karnas were influenced by the new Café Poca Cosa interior. 

“We think the building has been standing since 1904 and we’re still researching its history. It was vacant when we moved in but I know a little about the things that have been here. It was an auto-parts store, a radiator shop, a law firm, and I think at one time it also was the Tucson Indian Center. We haven’t applied for designation as a registered historic structure, but if our research pays off, we intend to. Believe me: it didn’t look like this when we moved in. The demolition took over six months and the plans also had to go through two sets of approvals.” The actual reconstruction only took six months, but we had to postpone our moving date four times.” 

While Bellovin chose not to disclose the purchase price, he indicated that the construction remodeling cost came close to $1 million.” Fortunately they were eligible for a Small Business Association loan and Bellovin implies that being a part of Rio Nuevo, for the most part, helped in that process. On the other hand, it also delayed it. “After you get the City of Tucson to sign off on your plans, you need to get Rio Nuevo approvals…and those two entities are not exactly consistent in their expectations. 

“During that time we had a couple of unpleasant surprises,” Bellovin said. “The interior ceiling fell down in two of the rooms. But we also had a pleasant surprise. When the contractor ripped up the carpeting on the second and third floors, so that we could see what was under, there was nothing but this completely black wood with paint spattered over it. So we threw the carpeting back down, plainly aware that eventually we’d have to deal with it. But the contractor said, ‘I’d like to see a test sample of what’s under there.’ When we got the test sample back, it was the absolutely gorgeous, upgraded pecan flooring that had been here since year one. So we completely restored the second and third floors with the original finish. It’s magnificent. 

“In the 1960s, this was one of Tucson’s premiere boxing rings. The showers were on thesecond floor and the ring was on the third floor. In fact, about four months ago I had a client who remembers fighting in here.” Today, the third floor has been refinished as a penthouse multipurpose room with the original pecan floors and windows, framing segments of Tucson’s skyline.

Bellovin believes that, if all the minds on the Rio Nuevo project come together, we will see more restaurants, more people living downtown, and values increasing. He also believes that it will have a bright future, but “nothing goes up in a straight line; there will be some bumps along the way.” Bellovin & Karnas have made a significant investment in downtown Tucson, which they fully expect will pay off.”