Beauty school owner says delay of building makeover hurting business

Downtown business owner Jean Banks says her Vancouver beauty school has suffered long enough at the hands of somebody else’s disaster.

A two-alarm fire that took place more than 13 blocks away might as well have happened to her building, said Banks, who wants people to know her business is still open. She’s waited several weeks for a promised remodel but hasn’t been able to call attention to her crumbling storefront at West Sixth and Washington streets, said Banks.

To make matters worse for Banks, her property’s owners ripped down her building’s metal awnings four months ago and the lettering that spelled out the “Vancouver School of Beauty,” the name of her longtime business.

“People think we have closed,” she said.

She’s convinced the shop’s torn-up facade is being neglected so that the owners of her building can attend to another of their downtown holdings, Schofield’s Corner, which was severely damaged by fire in October 2010.

That’s partially true, said Rob Aschieris, a California-based representative of the family-owned Schofield Properties. He said his company has every intention of fixing the beauty school building.

“Everything’s been postponed because of that fire at Main and McLoughlin,” Aschieris said.

The conflict between beauty school owner Banks and her landlords highlights the challenges faced by managers of aging commercial properties, as well as their tenants. The current managers of the Schofield family’s real estate holdings have had to learn quickly, having inherited the sites in 2006 when patriarch Edward W. Schofield died.

A descendant of the Schofield family, Rob Aschieris said his family tore down the beauty school building’s facade as part of a goal to historically preserve the 1930s-era structure and also make improvements to older buildings that share the same block. The undertaking was shelved to focus efforts on repairs related to the fire.

Aschieris said the company spent nearly $500,000 restoring Schofield’s Corner.

“Have you seen it? It looks really great,” Aschieris said.

His partner Ed Schofield, Edward’s son, said the company’s next priority will be restoring the 144-year-old Schofield Building, around the corner from the beauty school. The Schofield Building, 602 Main St. at Sixth Street, was built in 1867 by Schofield’s great-great grandparents.

The beauty school occupies space on the opposite side of the block fronting Main. Although the beauty school’s awning and signage has been taken down, Aschieris pointed out the school does have a large corner-front sign to identify the school.

Banks said the sign is meant to light up but doesn’t, due to the building’s electrical problems.

She attributes a 50 percent enrollment drop, down to 10 students at what is typically the busiest time of year, to the building’s structural and cosmetic shortcomings, which include a crumbling brick storefront and the rusty footprint of her school’s absent awning.

Hair and cosmetology coeds have been training at the Sixth-Street-facing storefront since 1965, said Banks, 68, who purchased the school in 1984 and has leased the space from Schofield Properties ever since that time.

“The building is worn down,” said Georgann Anderson, owner of the Daisy Maiz popcorn and candy store at 607 Washington St., just north of the beauty school. Window and roof leaks are among the concerns about the structure, she said.

Therein lies the dilemma, Aschieris said.

“Our initial plan was to start from the outside and work our way around the building. To get the exterior cleaned up and then start addressing the issues on the inside,” he said. “That’s going to be a pretty significant cost.”