Salinas’ relationship with its beloved and loathed savior/developer continues.

It’s easier to ask forgiveness than it is permission, and developer Gerry Kehoe wants the city of Salinas to know he’s really, really sorry about the whole Bruhn building thing.

“We very honestly exceeded our permits,” he says. “The city made a visit last week and they were in shock, quite honestly, at what we had done. We did exceed what we could do and I do apologize profusely for it.”

“It” goes like this.

The Weekly received word two weeks ago that construction had commenced at the Bruhn building, a historic brick structure at the intersection of Main and Alisal streets in Oldtown Salinas. The circa-1920s building has been empty for years after housing the Dick Bruhn clothing store, a place where generations of kids got their dress clothes and prom tuxes, and scores of law enforcement officers bought their uniforms.

Kehoe, who owns the 201 Main St. complex of restaurants that launched last November (after seven tedious years in development), planned on turning the Bruhn Building into a boutique hotel and restaurant. The project was to feature at least a part of the Western Flyer, the boat made famous by John Steinbeck and biologist Ed Ricketts as the vessel they took on their journey to the Sea of Cortez (see story, p. 14).

Kehoe owns some significant property, including the bar next to Ernest Hemingway’s house in Key West, Florida, and he owned the boat too. He was going to cut it into a few chunks to get it into the Bruhn building, but instead he sold it just weeks ago to a guy who wants to restore it and moor it at Monterey Harbor for use in education and scientific research.

Kehoe had permits for an initial round of demolition work focused around getting the boat into the building. But it became patently obvious that something more than demo was taking place. Truckloads of lumber were being delivered – two Saturdays ago, a Home Depot truck pulled up in full view of Salinas Mayor Joe Gunter – and the sound of power tools echoed late at night.

People took notice of the suspicious building hours. One tipster expressed concern to me about the permits, specifically for asbestos removal, so I called the city.

A few hours after the city conducted an inspection Feb. 18, Building Official Joseph DeSante slapped up the red tags, ordering all work to come to a halt. Then the emails between Kehoe and the city started to fly.

From DeSante to Kehoe: “There is to be no work until a permit is issued to begin construction. This is to include work that does not generally require a permit. There is to be no moving of debris, sweeping, painting, anything… etc. I did not pull the meter, but if any work is found to take place after this afternoon’s inspection, prior to issuance of a permit, I will be forced to pull the power and post the building vacant.”

Kehoe told the city he was being treated “with lynch mob intent,” and that the Feb. 18 inspection was “an ambush with intent to harm.”

But it was a publicly recalcitrant Kehoe I spoke with Feb. 24. With the Western Flyer sold, he says, he wanted to change directions on his plans. The city, he says, is hungry for housing downtown, so he decided to turn the 50,000-square-foot structure into a boutique hotel and a half-dozen two-story townhomes. According to the emails, Kehoe also plans townhomes for at least a portion of the Greyhound building, which he also owns. The bus company is vacating it later this year to move to an intermodal transit plaza at the Amtrak station.

All well and good, the city says. But first Kehoe needs to get his permitting house in order. And that starts by getting a report from the Monterey Bay Unified Air Pollution Control District “immediately,” DeSante says. A hazmat crew will go in, take samples throughout the building and determine if any hazards exist. Kehoe is correct when he says the building was constructed before asbestos existed, but Dick Bruhn built his empire long after that. Nobody’s quite sure what’s there.

And then Kehoe has to go to the local Historic Resources Board and get its approval for his plans before submitting anything to the city.

“We’ve never not had an interest in saving this historic building,” Kehoe says.

MARY DUAN is the Weekly’s editor. Reach her at mary@mcweekly.com