Downtown Visalia will get 'Art Deco' office building

A Visalia business owner is planning construction of a three-story, Art Deco-style office building on Church Street in downtown Visalia.

The Sycamore Building, located at 320 N. Church St., will be used for office and multi-family residential living space.

Developer Clayton Ipsen of Polaris Healthcare Properties owns True North Physician Service, LLC. Ipsen works with physicians and is targeting them as tenants for both work and living space located a few blocks from the Kaweah Health campus.

He plans to use portions of the ground floor and one office on the second floor, he says. The other office space will be built to suit another tenant and will be scheduled for over 2,400 square feet and have an outdoor patio space as well.

The top floor is designated for five apartments ranging from 900 square feet to 1,290 square feet. All apartments are two bedroom and two bathroom. Unit 2 has a small outdoor patio, while unit 1 and unit 5 have larger outdoor porches on the south side of the building. The elevator and stair access are on this floor as well. It is anticipated that elevator and stair doors would have a keyed entry to allow access to this floor so that clients and employees of office space don’t wander or loiter.

Art Deco-style buildings were popular in the 1920s and have enjoyed a resurgence in popularity. Well-known Art Deco buildings in Visalia include the Darling Hotel and the downtown post office.

The planned 24,000-square-foot building is in the historic district - behind the old jail on Oak Street, located on the corner of Church and School on a vacant lot laid out as an old basketball court.

A preliminary hearing on the project will be held April 24.

This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: Downtown Visalia will get 'Art Deco' office building