From the Jan 27 – Feb 2, 2005 issue

News

House of Blues

Hendrix Home Appears Doomed

by Erica C. Barnett

The childhood home of Jimi Hendrix, which has sat all but abandoned on a weed-choked piece of city-owned Central District property for the past three years, appears doomed. Last week, according to Mary Pearson, director of asset management for the city's Fleets and Facilities Department, the city sent notice to the house's owner, Peter Sikov, that he would have to move the house off the property by the end of February. The house, which Sikov says cost him $30,000 to move, will likely be demolished unless another property owner steps forward and allows Sikov to move it elsewhere.

Sikov, whose plans to renovate the house and turn it into a museum and arts facility were thwarted by a lack of funding, says he moved the house onto the property on the "verbal assurance" that his organization, the Leon Hendrix-founded James Marshall Hendrix Foundation, would be able to buy the land (currently valued at $817,000) from the city. Sikov now says that promise wasn't kept. "We would like to buy the property… [but] they refused to sell it to us." Sikov acknowledges that the city put out a public notice that the property was for sale, but says the method the city used to advertise the land--an ad in the Daily Journal of Commerce--wasn't sufficient. "No great effort was made to contact the Hendrix Foundation," Sikov says.

But John Franklin, the former director of the city's Fleets and Facilities department, says he went out of his way to give Sikov a chance to buy the property. "I asked him if he was interested in purchasing the property and gave him three months to bring forth a proposal," Franklin, says. "An offer was not forthcoming. Hence, his lease was extinguished and any rights he had associated with that lease were extinguished also."

Franklin, moreover, says no "great effort" was required. "Pete's a very sophisticated real estate property owner," he says. "It's not our job to call him up and say, 'Pete, the [for-sale notice] is out.'" In another twist, the city may opt to give the land to a private developer, American Eagle Communities as partial payment for land the city now owns in Discovery Park.

barnett@thestranger.com