>>REALESTATE

There’s a nifty hybrid in Monterey, both home and business, zoned for either and legal for both simultaneously. Currently it’s rented to several architectural firms and is business-only. There are so few freestanding commercial buildings for sale in Monterey County that this one’s a notable rarity.

From the front, the building is an L-shaped ranch with extended eves that create inviting concepts for comfortable outdoor seating. The L is practical and visually appealing; the short leg contains one complete office, with its own front door at a 90-degree angle from the rest of the building, around a small zigzag. It’s the largest room in the house at 389 square feet and provides 17 feet of lateral space. Wide front windows and one on each side provide great natural light.

The long leg of the L contains the main front door plus four floor-to-ceiling windows on the walkway under the eves. The door opens to a central hall, with an entry on the right to a 298-square-foot office/living room (with big brick fireplace) rented by one firm, and the entry on the left to another office. By continuing down the hallway, one comes to a third room with 156 square feet, and a quick left to a shorter hall, off of which are the galley kitchen, full bath and a 140-square-foot room that’s currently a bookkeeper’s office.

Francis Davy (not related to the Davi real estate family) is the property owner who has been remodeling the interior a bit at a time while his three tenants continue business as usual. Work has begun at the back of the house, in an accountant’s office, with tinted plaster walls surfaced delicately between textured and smooth. They have the translucent colorations of dunes when the same sun shines differently on their domes than on tide-swept sand nearby. The room is newly carpeted and neutral slate tiles have been laid down the small hall into the bath and nearly to the kitchen.

From the bookkeeper’s window, one notices that the backyard, fenced with broad wood verticals, is currently bedded by natural fresh sand. The space is large and appealing enough for work to be done with a laptop on a table under an umbrella on a nice day. Access to and from the back of the building is via a door in the laundry room just off the kitchen.

The entire house has big dual-pane windows in each room. In the room with the fireplace, two big skylights framed in wood are set perpendicular to each other.

The ongoing interior upgrades will eventually culminate in a very professional and/or homey space with potential for multiple and varied uses. Granted, the exterior of the property needs the contractor’s good work too. Pebbly cement walkways and the long drive up one side of the house require weeding if not cosmetic repairs. The botanicals are wanting for help from a good design eye and practiced hands. There’s a small circular lawn in place that’s home to a venerable old Yucca with a century of strong living still to go, and a Juniper tree taller than the roof of the building. Both are responsible for the curb appeal.

The building itself is painted an off-cream with brown trim but likely would have no objection to a more handsome presentation in keeping with a solid, friendly neighborhood and remodeling happening in every direction.

Price: $729,000 345 Kolb Ave., Monterey. Contact Jeri Albert, Keller Williams Realty, 277-3066.