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The investor who bought the old Elks lodge building in downtown Sacramento last spring has decided to pour $3 million into renovating its once-elegant interior.
Steven Ayers' plans include adding at least one good restaurant on a lower floor, restoring the magnificent grand ballroom on the third story into perhaps the region's most distinctive law office and possibly turning the top floor into an exclusive club or condos.
Ayers' family, under the name Utah Partners, bought the 14-story building at 921 11th St. from Arjay LLC last May. Industry sources say it sold for $3 million.
"We looked at the Elks building over the years and thought it has the most presence of any building in town," he said. "It's a jewel of a building, highly unique. And from the location-location-location standpoint it was a no-brainer to make the purchase."
Benevolently built in 1924: The Elks project has history going for it The 73,000-square-foot structure, one of the dominant features of the Sacramento skyline from the 1920s into the 1970s, was built by the Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks in 1924. Developer Buzz Oates acquired it in the 1980s and tamed it into a modem office building, putting in sheet rock and other touches that distanced the building from its Beaux Arts roots.
Despite the modernization, the building still smacks of its former grandeur. Its lobby evokes memories of the Gilded...