The Contra Costa Times, a sister newspaper to the Oakland Tribune, was kind enough to run on April 10 the story originally in the Tribune (Local Tribune Reporter Covers Richmond, Small Business, April 5, 2007). While I am flattered that Interactive Resources and I were prominently featured, I want to make it clear that the projects featured are the work of many who should also be recognized.

Trainmaster/Reading Room Building

The non-profit organization that took on the challenge and paid all of the up-front costs of moving the Trainmaster/Reading Room Building from the railroad yards to Point Richmond is Point Richmond Gateway, LLC, members include Margaret Morkowski, Robert lane, Jeff Lee, Josh Genser, Kent Kitchingman, Martin McNair, Mark Howe, Margi Cellucci and Rosemary Corbin.

The project would not have happened without the support of the Richmond City Council and Richmond City staff, including Rich Davidson, Fred Clement, Habte Asfaha, Alan Wolken and Steve Duran.

Martin McNair, who is on the Mechanics Bank board, was largely responsible for convincing Mechanics Bank to take a serious look at moving into the building. McNair, a former developer and Navy Reserve captain, also used his considerable skills to manage the move and rehabilitation of the building.

Although Interactive Resources provided pro bono the architecture-engineering services for the original move and rehabilitation, the exterior design of the plaza and building was provided by Point Richmond architect David Janes, AIA, who works for SGPA Architecture + Planning in San Francisco. Janes has had a thing for the Point Richmond entry for years, and has developed more than one visualization for a grand plaza at the intersection of Garrard, Cutting and West Richmond. Now, he has an opportunity to finally see it happen.

The interior building architecture is by Berman Hardin of Sausalito, the Mechanics Bank Architects. Consulting on the historic preservation aspect is another Point Richmond Architect, Charlie Duncan, AIA, who works for Carey & Co. in San Francisco.

East Brother Light Station

East Brother Light Station is a labor of love for many people, most particularly the board of directors of the non-profit corporation, which includes, besides myself, my wife Shirley, Pete Martin, Emmy Gengler, Charlie Duncan, Kristen Gates and Mikael Blaisdell. In addition, there is a host of hard-working volunteers who bring an array of amazing skills. Our dedicated innkeepers, Captains Elan and Katie Stewart, keep the money coming in that makes it all possible. Over the last 25 years, literally hundreds of people have worked to preserve this unique island that is an important part of Richmond and California maritime history. We always need new volunteers and board members. If you are interested, click here.

Rosie the Riveter WW II Home Front National Historical Park

This park is a partnership among many agencies and organizations, including the City of Richmond and Contra Costa County. It wouldn’t have happened without former City Council member Donna Powers, who first conceived the concept of honoring Richmond’s Rosies. My Richmond City Council colleagues have been totally committed to this national park from the beginning, as have County Supervisor john Gioia and his colleagues. I also serve on the board of the Rosie the Riveter Trust, the non-profit partner of the park. The board includes Rosemary Corbin, Mendell Penn, John Gioia, Jane Bartke, Diane Hedler and Antonio Medrano. Click here for a list of donors to Rosie the Riveter Trust who have provided the funds for many projects that have helped build the park.

We are also fortunate to have a contingent of dedicated National Park Service employees, including Superintendent Martha Lee, headquartered in the Richmond City Hall, who extraordinarily committed to Richmond’s national park.

A community design

By Janis Mara

MEDIANEWS STAFF
Contra Costa Times

Article Launched:04/10/2007 03:10:45 AM PDT

Just as the East Brother Light Station, perched on a tiny island at Richmond's western tip, is an integral part of the city, so is architect Tom Butt, who with his firm Interactive Resources helped save the 133-year-old lighthouse in 1978.

But rescuing a landmark from demolition and turning it into a successful bed-and-breakfast inn is not exactly heavy lifting for the head of the architectural and engineering firm. It is more like business as usual.

In the 34 years since he co-founded the Point Richmond-based firm, Butt, a Richmond City Council member and author of the widely read Tom Butt E-Forum newsletter, helped get the entire north side of Point Richmond added to the National Register of Historic Places, restored Point Richmond's beloved Hotel Mac and, in 1976, erected one of the first generators to feed power into an electric grid in California.

It always has been clear that Butt, now 63, wanted to be an architect. In high school, at an age when most people are figuring out how to ride a skateboard, Butt was doing drafting for an office of four architects and working for the highway department in his native Arkansas, repairing bridges during school vacations.

At the University of Arkansas, he worked summers as a trainee architect for the National Park Service, and he went on to get a master's degree in architecture in urban design from UCLA in 1973.

"I got my artistic side from my maternal grandmother, who was an artist," said the ever-intense Butt, squirming in a chair in a conference room at Interactive Resources' headquarters, just steps from the Hotel Mac, a distinctive three-story brick building built in 1911 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

His grandmother, Helen King, "created stencils, stamped patterns on burlap and sold the patterns as a kit, along with cloth and a guidebook on how to hook rugs," Butt said. "I used to help her."

In 1973, his dream was realized when he teamed up with four partners, including architect John Clinton, to found Interactive Resources; the other three eventually left. The country was locked in an energy crisis caused by a Middle East oil embargo, and the company soon became one of the first to come up with energy-efficient designs, one of which, a solar home, found its way into the pages of Sunset magazine.

The 27-employee company, which pulled in $4 million in revenue in 2006, has worked on projects throughout the Bay Area. Its projects include the 250,000-square-foot Point Richmond Tech Center, currently occupied by tenants such as the California Department of Justice DNA lab, and evaluating and designing repairs for Candlestick Park after it was damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.

Butt describes the East Brother lighthouse as "one of our pet projects." He has written grants, put in a desalination and sewage system, and worked endlessly, along with his mentor, community activist Lucretia Edwards, to save the lighthouse. Butt also put in a good deal of work on another one of Richmond's proudest landmarks, Rosie the Riveter World War II Home Front National Historical Park.

Another pet project is just coming to fruition. Butt has managed to save a 100-year-old railroad workers' social club, the only remaining structure from Richmond's original railroad yards across from the Richmond Plunge, the municipal swim center on East Richmond Avenue that itself is under renovation.

The Trainmasters Building "was on the verge of being destroyed," Butt said. "I pulled that thing from the toilet so many times, I don't want to tell you."

After some adroit negotiating on the architect's part, Richmond-based Mechanics Bank is taking over the Trainmasters Building and putting $1 million into the building and plaza. Interactive Resources did all the architectural design and engineering for free.

The councilman said that since he was elected in 1995, Interactive Resources has done no work for the city of Richmond.

After he became a councilman, one of Butt's most successful community projects was his e-mail newsletter, which has a circulation of 2,000. As happened with Craigslist, as more and more people signed up, others have approached him and asked him to circulate news of interest to the community. To sign up, send your name and e-mail address to tom.butt@intres.com and write "Subscribe to E-Forum" in the subject line.

Butt's company got a glowing review from a recent client.

Interactive Resources "did a great job last year evaluating what the city of Merced's needs would be for its corporate yard and designing a set of buildings," said John Sagin, senior architect for Merced.

"It's difficult to stay within a schedule, especially ours, which was pretty tight, and they did it on time and within our budget," Sagin said.

The overall project is estimated at $28 million, he said.

"Hopefully, we'll be able to use them on the next phase, once we get the project funded," he said.

Reach Janis Mara at jmara@angnewspapers.com or 510-208-6468.