Most of us know you shouldn’t judge a book — or a person or a city or neighborhood — by its cover, and yet we all do it.
Vallejo builder Andy Salon said he’s trying to help change this city’s image “one house at a time,” by building a first-class home and selling it for nearly $1 million.
Salon said he designed and built the two-story home in Vallejo’s Heritage District, sparing practically no expense with many European-inspired luxury features, hoping to bring up property values in the surrounding area. He’s asking $949,000 for the house that cost him $739,000 to build.
“I’m very proud of this house,” he said. “I hope it brings the highest price of any home in the area. That will raise the ‘comps’ here, and increase property values.”
Upscale shouldn’t be so unusual here, he said.
“When they find out I’m asking nearly $1 million, they say there’s no way to get that much in Vallejo,” he said. He hopes they’re wrong.
Local Realtor, Toni Foster whose firm, Twin Oaks Realty is selling the house, said she’s impressed by the workmanship.
“It sounds like he has great aspirations and inspiration. It’s a phenomenal house. And I hope he gets his money and does exactly what he wants to do,” said Foster, who is not the listing agent. “I wish everybody felt the same as him, and wanted to bring the city up. I’m excited by someone that feels our town warrants the kind of craftsmanship that he’s doing.”
When Salon bought the lot at 738 Georgia St., about 18 months ago, it was empty except for a slew of old cement sinks, after the house that stood on it for at least 100 years, burned down in 1999, he said.
Another home of similar size, though 100 years older than the one Salon just built, sold several months ago for about $650,000, he said.
The four bedroom and 4- 1/2 bath, 2,600-square foot house, with a 600 square-foot two-car garage, has two fireplaces, wood floors throughout the downstairs and three levels of redwood decking. That includes one on the roof, accessible by way of a wrought-iron spiral staircase.
All the appliances, including a flat-screen TV and a security camera system with two monitoring locations — come with the house.
The kitchen is all chrome and glass and the closets all have cedar floors.
Sliding back gates, tankless water heaters, energy and water-saving fixtures and appliances, including a bathtub spout in the master bathroom that resembles a waterfall, are among the special features. There’s a panoramic view of Mare Island and to the eastern hills from the upstairs deck, and most of the upstairs rooms.
“You can turn on your heater or your central air-conditioning remotely, so the house is warm or cool by the time you get home,” he said. “It comes with the latest model washer and dryer in the laundry room, upstairs. There’s a remote for the toilets that controls the temperature of the seats and the water for the bidet.”
There’s a small glass shelf above the toilet paper dispenser, where one can lay one’s cell phone or wallet. Salon said he tried to think of everything.
He included something called a Mansard roof — a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterized by two slopes on each of its sides with the lower slope, punctured by dormer windows, at a steeper angle than the upper. It comes from the French architect François Mansart (1598-1666).
“Back then, in France, they charged extra taxes for a second story, so he used this style and called the second story a roof and only had to pay for one floor,” he said. “The story grabbed me.”
Other, clever little features include crown moulding, fire sprinklers, built-in surround sound and special USB plugs in the outlets.
“Everybody asks why I put so much money into this house,” he said. “Everybody loves it, but they ask why, and I tell them, I want to change Vallejo, one house at a time. When I brought my plan before the planning commission, a couple of people opposed it, because, they said, Vallejo is a working class town, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but I want to give it a little bit of an upgrade. I may not see it in my lifetime, but if we get 15 or so million-dollar homes sold here, it will start to change it.”
Perception can be the greater part of reality, he said.
“People will start to see Vallejo in a different way,” he said. He also said the improved attitude at City Hall encouraged him to test these waters.
“I want to make money on this, I’m not going to lie. I’m not a charity,” he said. “But I live here, and I want to make a difference. One man can change the world, for better or worse. I, of course, am going for better.”
Like Foster, Shelley Tappin, president of the Solano Association of Realtors and a Broker-Associate with Tipp Realty at Glen Cove, said she loves what Salon is trying to do with the house.
“It is rare to find a new home in the Heritage District that combines old charm with modern amenities,” she said. “This home certainly offers some very nice features that buyers won’t come across every day. I applaud the efforts and vision that the owner is contributing to the growth and future of our great city.”
Contact Rachel Raskin-Zrihen at (707) 553-6824. —— (c)2016 Times-Herald (Vallejo, Calif.) Visit Times-Herald (Vallejo, Calif.) at www.timesheraldonline.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. AMX-2016-02-07T00:01:00-05:00
