Since You Asked: Harpers Ferry building in escrow

Q: What is going on with the building that housed Harpers Ferry? There is a "for sale" sign outside and what appears to be all the inventory inside, as if they closed one day and never returned.

A: The defunct kitchen-supply store building is currently in escrow with an unidentified potential buyer, according to Fred Northern, the real estate agent handling the property on the 600 block of Colusa Avenue in Yuba City.

Harper's Ferry was owned and operated by Jim Czigans for 15 years at various locations in Yuba City before harsh economic times forced him to close in January 2010.

The building was foreclosed on and is currently owned by American Enterprise Bank of Chicago. The asking price is $1.3 million, Northern said. "Whoever buys the building, buys the contents inside," said Northern.

Sluggish sales, steep operating costs and tax increases forced the upscale kitchen store out of business, according to Czigans' daughter, Mary Totman.

Totman opened her own kitchen supply store in late 2010, called Frannie Bean Kitchen Store & More on Tharp Road in Yuba City.

"I missed Harpers Ferry, missed working there, and I wanted to open this store because I missed it," Totman said. "It was devastating for him when he had to close."

Totman said her father was thrilled when she opened the new store.

"He was my biggest cheerleader," she said.

Sadly, Totman said, Czigans passed away Nov. 23.

Totman said business at the new store is going well thanks in part to brisk holiday sales, but things have dropped off in recent weeks.

As for the future of the building at the corner of Colusa and Orange, Northern said it will take another month to six weeks to determine if the sale will go forward.

: What is the status on the second traffic signal going in at the Elm Street and Highway 99 intersection in Live Oak?

: After a long series of snags and false starts, the Live Oak City Council is hoping to accept construction bids for the project in February, Live Oak City Manager Jim Goodwin said.

With houses and school close to both sides of Highway 99 in Live Oak, residents have pushed for several years to have a traffic light installed at the busy intersection.

"It's very dangerous there," Goodwin said. "A lot of pedestrian traffic, especially kids, cross the highway going to and from school, and we've had quite a few near-miss fatalities."

Recent numbers were not available last week, but authorities reported 34 pedestrian and cyclist injuries, including one death, at the intersection between 2001 and 2006.

The city has run into several permitting issues with various state agencies involved with the heavily traveled highway, but the final permit applications are expected to be sent to the state Department of Transportation for approval sometime this week, Goodwin said.

"It's a complicated project that required a redesign that Caltrans still needs to approve," Goodwin said. "It's been quite an ordeal, but we're hoping to get it going soon."

Since You Asked is published on Mondays. Send questions to reporter Rob Parsons at the Appeal-Democrat, 1530 Ellis Lake Drive, Marysville, CA 95901, email him at rparsons@appealdemocrat or call 749-4785.