Welcome to “Only in Marin,” which will focus on business news—and the people making it—in Marin County. The name was stolen shamelessly from the late, great San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen.
Having Herb lift one of your stories and use it as part of his three-dot universe used to be a right of passage in Bay Area journalism. One day, he grabbed an item from me…but got it wrong. The correction was also incorrect. Finally, Herb called me at the paper where I was working and said, “Explain it to me.”
“Only in Marin.” He used the expression with love and sarcasm, though perhaps not in that order, when he wrote of Marin County’s eccentricities.
As for me, I’ve covered the North Bay for NorthBay biz, the Pacific Sun, the San Francisco Examiner and even PBS for the last 17 years.
Scared straight in Sausalito
Sausalito is a town that doesn’t much like change. It’s full of old money, a downtown the locals avoid with a vengeance and watering holes like the “no name bar” and Smitty’s. So when Ray Blatt quietly decided to turn the venerable Alta Mira Hotel into a rehab center for the very well-heeled, the furor was pronounced.
The city council called a special session to let residents vent about the project, and a standing-room-only crowd of better than 100 didn’t disappoint. A parade of speakers told the council the rehab center would endanger the public, property values and parking. Politicians’ names were invoked, as Marin Supervisors Susan Adams and Charles McGlashan were said to be willing to look into the issue, and the fight would be carried to a state level by Assemblyman Jared Huffman and State Senator Carole Migden.
Originally a private residence built in the 1880s, the Alta Mira was later converted to a hotel and burned to the ground in 1926. It was acquired and rebuilt by William Wachter in 1954 and became a very popular site for weddings and other prominent social events. Blatt and his dad purchased the hotel in December 2003, hung new curtains and cleaned the old girl up, reopening as a 23-room B&B in March 2004. While Michael Blatt played an integral role as owner of the Alta Mira, he’s only a financial partner on the rehab center, leaving the project’s decisions and day-to-day management to son Ray, who’s the majority stockholder in both businesses.
Besides watching the hotel tax rolling off the bottom line, city officials are angry they don’t get a say in the conversion or the certification process. Blatt has had some of his state licenses since last September and will have the rest in the not-too-distant future. Since the state is the licensing agency, the city has no input.
Besides treating patients for drug and alcohol addiction, the new rehab center will treat eating disorders, trauma recovery and self-discovery. With a price between $42,000 and $48,000 a month per unit, checking in alone is almost enough to scare you straight. Blatt admits it’s a lot. “But people spend a lot of money on a car, and this is something that can save a life.”
Blatt told the Marin Independent Journal, “Addictions are rampant in the community, and they affect every social strata. This isn’t a financial venture, but a personal one.” It sounds a little like a line, but Blatt’s girlfriend went through rehab, and he’s a true believer in its effectiveness.
Still, the new venture stands to make Blatt and company some cash. Assuming just a 70 percent occupancy and only $67,500 per patient based on an average price of $45,000 per month and a stay of 47 days, the new Alta Mira can reasonably gross about $16 million a year. So maybe it’s a little about money. And at those prices, only the highest social strata will benefit from the Blatt’s new undertaking.
GreenPoint goes bye-bye
The residential real estate market continues to take a pounding, as any of the 430 employees of GreenPoint Mortgage in Novato will tell you. They’re all looking for work after parent company Capital One Financial in Virginia called it quits.
GreenPoint focused on originating Alt-A and no-documentation loans (essentially loans that are a step above subprime). In 2006, GreenPoint did $33 billion in originations. This year, the lender had done just $12.3 billion, a drop of 30 percent from the same period last year. GreenPoint, like lots of other residential lenders, has found it difficult to sell its loans to investors and Wall Street houses due to soaring foreclosure rates.
The Novato office was home to much of GreenPoint’s national operation, including accounting, marketing, IT, training, legal services and human resources. GreenPoint had 125,000 square feet in San Marin near Highway 101. The lender joins the likes of fellow Marin mortgage players like Paul Financial LLC and Pro30 Funding, which laid off a collective 65 employees earlier this year.
Going green
In Marin, the environment is king (or queen, to be politically correct). A growing number of businesses are now enjoying the designation of “certified” green, thanks to a county program that emphasizes recycling and reuse as well as reduction in energy use and water.
Twenty-three businesses have recently gained certification. Among those are Hosteling International of Point Reyes Station, Pilates Studio of Tiburon, Proof Lab Surf Shop and Blue Turtle Roofing. In all, 210 Marin businesses are now certified.
My favorite, however, is Pleasures of the Heart, an “elegant erotica” store in downtown San Rafael. The store cut its trash from two cans down to half a can. Store owner Jennifer Islas also persuaded her suppliers to ship lingerie without plastic hangers, and the store sells rechargeable vibrators, which certainly cuts down on the need for batteries. Everybody who works there walks to the store. Low energy fixtures light the way for customers to admire nighties made of organic cotton or bamboo fabric.
Nothing starts a buzz about a business like the environment—unless it’s green vibrators.
