New face for a familiar old place

New face for a familiar old place

Plaza renovations underway along Hendricks Avenue

Facade renovations are underway for Miramar Plaza on Hendricks Avenue in San Jose.

Longtime residents might recognize it as the once-home of Piner’s Lock and Safe, the former anchor store of the shopping center.

Lead architect on the project, Thomas Duke of Thomas Duke Architect, said he recalls shopping at the neighborhood hardware store back when he and his wife were newly married and said it’s “very rewarding” to be part of this project to renovate the shopping center.

“Whenever you can renovate and alter an existing space and reuse what’s there, that’s always a good thing,” he said. “…Sometimes the cost becomes prohibitive in renovating buildings, but typically, if you can, you end up with a space that has some character that’s kinda hard to recreate from scratch. So a lot of times renovating a building, you end up with an end product that’s different than had you just started with a project that didn’t have any constraints to it.”

General contractor Edd Langdon of Ticon Commercial LLC said construction on the shopping center has been going on for some time. The facade renovations, which began in early August, includes updating the storefronts and replacing all the glass.

“We’ve re-roofed 90 percent of the building already and a lot of work’s been going on for a while there because it is an older shopping center,” Langdon said. “We love the project…It’s got its challenges but it’s gonna look great when it’s done.”

The shopping center was purchased by Nackashi and Nackashi, LLC — a father-and-son partner-ship comprised of Joe Nackashi and his son Gabriel. Joe said his son first saw the center for sale and reached out to him about it.

“When he found that building, I thought, ‘You know what Gabriel, that’s a great idea,’” Joe recalled. “So we decided to start our little partnership and buy it and transform it into what I hope to be a landmark building for the historic part of San Jose. My mother lives in the area, my family lives in the area so it was important to me from a personal perspective.”

According to Langdon, the next phase of construction will be focused on the parking lot.

The shopping center is expected to be completed by the end of the year. Milkster, a nitrogen creamery, will be moving in as a new tenant on the north end of the center.

By Michele Leivas
Resident Community News

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