Renovations on the way: Historic Chinese grocery, Phoenix church to get a makeover

A historic Chinese grocery store and downtown Phoenix church will undergo renovations after the City Council approved hundreds of thousands of dollars in grant funds to preserve the buildings.

Yaun Ah Gim Groceries at Fourth Avenue and Tonto Street in the Grant Park neighborhood south of downtown and the First Baptist Church at Third Avenue and Monroe Street were given $200,000 and $137,000 from the Phil Gordon Threatened Building Grant fund. The program, named in honor of Phoenix's former mayor, aims to save historic warehouses and properties from deterioration or demolition, and is part of the city's Historic Preservation Office.

Yaun Ah Gim Groceries was built in about 1920 by Chinese immigrant Quan Shee Yuan. City documents say the building reflected the dispersal of Asian residents from Phoenix's original Chinatown near First, Jefferson and Madison streets. Five years after the store's opening, Yuan expanded and built six residential units. The Yaun family lived in one of the units and rented the others, according to the 2007 Asian American Historic Property Survey.

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The First Baptist Church was built around 1929 and is listed as a historic property for its "architectural significance as an example of the Italian Gothic Style with Moderne overtones as applied to religious architecture," city documents say.

A fire broke out at the building in 1984. It was about to be demolished, but then-Mayor Terry Goddard helped purchase the property in 1992 through the nonprofit Housing Opportunities Center, to return it to structural integrity.

Since then, the city has poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into restoring the building — repairing the roof, reconstructing doors and windows and other renovations.

Wednesday's grant funding will be used to repair "the rose window and the columns, which once held the proscenium arch, courtyard plaster, exterior stucco, as well as repair of broken brickwork," city documents show.

The church, which is now owned by Abbey Historic Restoration Limited Partnership, is intended to be used as a community gathering and entertainment space, including for weddings, lectures or other events.

The space will be called "Monroe Street Abbey."

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Plans for the historic grocery store not final yet

Phoenix's grant funding for the historic grocery store will likely go toward "foundation repairs, roof repairs and replacement, structural reinforcement, masonry repair and mortar repointing, door and window repair and replacement, and repainting," according to the city.

First, a needs assessment must be conducted, which is underway.

Omar Fabian, the grocery store owner, told The Arizona Republic he plans to maintain the property's residential units as apartments but is undecided about how to reuse the main building.

Some nonprofit organizations want to set up office space there, but he also has considered using it as an art gallery or community gathering area. Or he may keep it as a food market, if he can get the city's zoning approval.

"That area's also in a food desert. There's no grocery stores within a couple of miles there," he said. "(But) zoning was different back in the day. You could have commercial and residential on the same property, but it's been vacant for so long, and the zoning has changed."

The area is currently zoned only for residential.

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Owner: 'I just want to do my part'

Fabian owns several residential properties in south Phoenix and another historic property, the Kunz-Carbajal House at Seventh Avenue and Mojave Street. The Kunz-Carbajal House is a small adobe home built around 1904, according to Phoenix's Historic Preservation Office .

Before Fabian sets any plans in stone, he said the Yaun Ah Gim Grocery facility will undergo a needs assessment to understand what repairs are needed. The timeline is unknown.

Fabian said he plans to incorporate feedback from the surrounding neighborhoods into his plans.

He was born and raised in south Phoenix and works in the Roosevelt School District as a social worker.

"I just want to do my part and help restore the neighborhood and the area," he said. "All the properties I've purchased have been fixer-uppers ... that's me doing my part in the community."

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Taylor Seely covers Phoenix for The Arizona Republic / azcentral.com. Reach her at tseely@arizonarepublic.com or by phone at 480-476-6116.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Renovations on the way: Historic Chinese grocery, Phoenix church to get a makeover