Browse archives: 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997 | 1996 | 1995

Published on 05/05/1999 All articles from this issue

Private vault business coming to downtown Los Altos

printer friendly version

By Joanne Griffith Domingue / Town Crier Staff Writer

A new business with a new concept is coming to town. The Los Altos City Council approved the design for new construction for the Los Altos Vault and Safe Deposit Company to be built at 121 First St., in downtown Los Altos.

The owners and management of the Los Altos Mail Office will be expanding "into the private vault and safe deposit business, a secretive, private and exclusive establishment," the owners said in a written statement.

Developers said this is "the only one of its kind anywhere. Banks have vaults but this is different."

According to city documents, Gerald Colombi is the applicant for the project and the owners are Lee Associates - Eileen T. Wu.

The building, which will have 12-inch thick, concrete-reinforced walls and a brick facade, will be built between the up-scale Prima Strada restaurant and Los Altos Mail Office. The council approved an exception that will allow the building to have less than the 60-percent ground-floor window glazing required by the city.

Customers will be able to drive onto the site, "directly into the vault area," developers said. "There will be 24-hour access by appointment only, and there will be numbered accounts for extreme privacy and secrecy."

From First Street, a customer will be able to drive onto the property into a covered driveway area. A rolling metal, grille-like gate will close behind the customer's car, providing a secure area for the client to unload what is coming to be stored, according to a city staff report.

"This is a rather special-purpose type of building," said Councilman John Moss at the April 27 council meeting. "Is this a proven type of business? Why do we need it? Who's going to use it? I'd like to understand what we're getting into," he said.

Architect Matt Faure, from the Boseman, Montana-based Fullerton Architects, said if someone was going out of town for six months and was concerned about their Picasso painting, "We could store it for you," in the humidity-controlled private vault.

Colombi told the council that, yes, banks and savings and loans have vaults and safety-deposit boxes.

"But they don't have privacy and secrecy," Colombi said. "If you think you have privacy, think again."

Developers said Los Altos Vault Company offers special security features that include, "Constitutional rights, protected and guaranteed from government interference."

Some wondered what people would be putting in such a vault.

"Whatever people want - within the law," city staff said.