Bay Photo Gets Early Housewarming Gift From City Council

Bay Photo CEO Larry Abitbol said that renovations to the 50,000-square-foot former home of Seagate Technology will begin as soon as the company receives the proper permits.

“We will probably start some kind of demo and anything we can do to begin with, as soon as we close [escrow, but] it's going take awhile to get all these permits,” he said.

The Scotts Valley City Council voted unanimously to waive the cost of an impact study of the effects of the new tenant on Disc Drive, because Bay Photo plans to move into an existing building.

Also, Bay Photo has about 200 employees now in Santa Cruz who work staggered hours throughout the day, and the city's Economic Redevelopment Subcommittee members said they expect no extra strain on the city's roads, sewers or energy use. The subcommittee agreed the company will have less of an impact in all of these areas than the 800 workers who flowed into the city all at the same time during Seagate's years in the city.

The council vote also cleared the way for Bay Photo to pay the $36,000 in building fees—usually due up front—in three payments of $12,000 over the next three years.

“I think the government charging fees just because you can is something I have never seen as a good idea,” Mayor Dene Bustichi said.

Councilwoman Stephany Aguilar proposed a $9,800 fee to pay for three years of increased police patrol of the building while it is being remodeled. This was rejected before it reached a vote, because others on the council said that a vacant building was more of a magnet for crime than one being worked on.

Most of Bay Photo’s customers contact the company via the Internet, Abitbol said, and employees spend a lot of their days shipping out products around the country. For the most part, he said, this means the company will not bring traffic to town other than that of the employees.

Bay Photo’s plan is to build a 9,000-square-foot addition for office space and to convert the rest to a warehouse setting for production. Abitbol said the company has looked for a new location to centralize operations while growing rapidly. Its last location on Chanticleer Avenue in Live Oak was too small for the ballooning business by the time it had finished moving in.

“Our growth rate continues to be about 20 or 30 percent,” he said. “[We] are faced with the fact that to compete, we need a larger location.”

The move will also be big for the city, where many local businesses have taken a hit ever since Seagate moved its operation to Cupertino in May.

“When Seagate left, they kind of left a hole in our city,” said Councilman Randy Johnson. “This benefits our community, our schools, our housing prices ... It brings in a fabulous business with the possibility to bring in more.”

Aguilar also inserted more possible benefits for Bay Photo into the motion, but it was unclear whether they will materialize in reality.

“I know I don't have the votes," she said, "but I would like to add that if the RDA (the city's Redevelopment Agency) is successful in remaining, we could assist in reducing the $36,000 three-year payments.”  

The motion made it into the final vote in concept, but several council members said that even if the Redevelopment Agency survives, there is little chance it would have the money to help such a cause.