SOLD - Real Estate Sale - Bank Building, Pinole (Contra Costa)

JUST SOLD
Building SOLD Real Estate Sale
Pinole
Contra Costa County

Andy Mirabell of Restaurant Realty Company is proud to announce the sale of a majestic white building – a former bank – located on the downtown San Pablo Avenue corridor of Pinole, California.

As many of you know, Restaurant Realty and its agents, including myself, Andy Mirabell, specialize in a unique niche within the expansive commercial brokerage industry. We focus on selling restaurants, bars, food-related businesses, and often the real estate tied to these operations. But what about banks?

I was excited to receive a call from building owner Pasquale D’Onofrio in June of 2024 regarding his building in Pinole that had a café tenant operating within it. At first this sounded like a similar lead to many that we receive at our brokerage, Restaurant Realty Company. However, this building was different. Built in 1915 and located on the downtown San Pablo Avenue corridor of Pinole, California this majestic white building was a built as a bank. The building was given national Historic designation. It has stunning two story tall white stone pillars on either side of the front entrance, that ooze charm and emulate the style of columns seen at the White House.

Pasquale purchases this building in Pinole at auction in 2021. He invested heavily and carefully to upgrade the building, given the complexity of upgrading a historic building. He did amazing work while maintaining the beauty and charm of this property. He added a small kitchen on the ground floor that was soon occupied by a local restauranter wanting to run a café and event space. When I first spoke to Pasquale, we had intended to sell the café for the tenant and the building as well. After much consideration and review I did not find much value associated with the cafe that was rarely operating, thus I was retained as the Listing Agent and listed the building for sale for $985,000 in June of 2024. By August of 2024, after touring many parties, I met Veronica Perez. Veronica is a fabulous and successful local entrepreneur. She owns Love Apparent, a Senior Service Facility in Pinole, and is the president of the local board of commerce. When we toured the space, I knew there was more to her initial interest, and later she let me know she has wanted to buy this building since 2013. So, this deal was turning into a love story very quickly. Veronica retained me as her broker as well to help get the deal done. After some negotiations I was able to get a full price offer for Pasquale and he and his wife which included a Seller Note. This buyer seller relationship held a lot of confidence, as we don’t suggest Seller Financing for just any party.

All parties decided that it would be best to let the café tenant’s lease terminate at the end of 2024, and close escrow in early January 2025, giving Veronica a fresh start to begin planning the design and opening of her pending upscale restaurant concept. Veronica will move her Love Apparent offices into the top mezzanine space of building early this year.