Village Bakery leaving The Barlow in Sebastopol four months after destructive flood

The Village Bakery is pulling out of The Barlow in Sebastopol, redirecting its four-month effort to recover from the devastating losses of February’s flood and leaving the high-end retail market and maker place without one of its anchor tenants.

The move, announced by the popular bakery on social media Tuesday, is a sharp reversal of course after representatives of the business assured customers in recent months that they were working toward restoring the retail shop for walk-in customers and the 3,500-square-foot production kitchen which supplied stores and restaurants across the region.

Co-owner Patrick Lum said Wednesday that he and his wife, Teresa Gentile, remained committed to opening a new retail location undergoing renovation in Santa Rosa’s Montgomery Village. The opening at the former Michelle Marie’s Patisserie is expected sometime late this summer.

The bakery also plans to open a kiosk at Pacific Market in the Town & Country Shopping Center in Santa Rosa, near the longtime bakery/restaurant it closed before the flood in Sebastopol. Patrons will be able to purchase hearth breads, pastries and cakes at the kiosk.

He would not say what the bakery’s plans were to replace its production facility.

“We just can’t really comment on that right now,” Lum said Wednesday, suggesting there may be more news next week. “It’s a little tough right now.”

The couple have endured an arduous few months, beginning with the high toll paid when the Laguna de Santa Rosa spilled its banks in Sebastopol in late February during the worst flooding on the Russian River in about a quarter century.

Though business owners had long been assured that flood protection measures at The Barlow would spare their shops, the property was overwhelmed by the swiftly rising water, and the flood protection system was never fully deployed, leading to massive losses at the 12-acre complex.

In a report released by the city last month, Sebastopol Building Official Glenn Schainblatt determined what many tenants and other critics already had concluded: that Barlow management simply waited too long to begin deploying prefabricated flood barriers intended to seal building openings against floodwaters, despite a city-approved plan that was required as a condition for The Barlow to open in the 100-year flood plain.

Only eight of about 50 laborers needed for the job were able to get to the site to help install the floodgates, and they worked without all of the needed equipment, including large site lights, as the water rose around them, the report said.

Among other lapses, the barrier deployment was further delayed when Barlow management could not find a key to an equipment storage space, the report states.

“It is unclear why Barlow delayed implementation,” the report said. “What is clear is that all the planning to ensure the emergency plan preformed as anticipated was ignored.”

Like many tenants, Village Bakery had no flood insurance because of its prohibitively high cost.

The flooding laid waste to the bakery’s production kitchen, which supplied more than 200 commercial accounts, from supermarkets to high-end restaurants. In the days after, Lum and Gentile closed the site indefinitely and laid off 60 employees in what the couple called a “heartbreaking” move.

The stress proved particularly grave for Gentile, who suffered a serious heart condition and was hospitalized for several weeks in the immediate aftermath of the flood.

A Facebook post on Tuesday, apparently authored by Gentile, announced the bakery’s departure from The Barlow, in part because the exterior signs were to begin coming down from the building.

“Pat and I feel that it is in the best interest of our business, and our family life, to move on. Needless to say we will miss our amazing community in West County. We are infinitely grateful to our devoted patrons, our special friends and neighbors at The Barlow, and our community as a whole. We aren’t sure where we will land next, but rest assured that we are working tirelessly to rebuild and rise again!”

The bakery’s exit from The Barlow follows that of Zazu Kitchen & Farm, a prominent Sonoma County restaurant that was all but restored and ready for occupancy, when owners John Stewart and Duskie Estes suddenly announced in April they would not reopen. They said they had been stymied in their desire to seek compensation for their losses from Barlow owner Barney Aldridge.

Aldridge said Wednesday that everyone who wanted to return after the flooding is back in business, and that the Village Bakery space has been ready to reoccupy for a month.

He said he was informed last week that Lum and Gentile wanted out of their lease but received no explanation and agreed to let them go.

“You never know what drives people’s decisions,” he said.

Aldridge said the complex is more than 90% occupied, with only six businesses not returning after the flood, including Zazu, Village Bakery, Tamarind, Friedeman Wines, Circle of Hands and Barlow Clay.

He said leases for all six spaces are in review by potential tenants, with terms already negotiated.

Openings are looming as well for newcomers Seismic Brewing and Golden State Cider taprooms, while Sushi Kosho, which has remodeled and added a bar since the flood, should reopen its doors next month, Aldridge said.

“We worked very hard to get everybody back open, and we were very successful,” he said.

Aldridge said he is meeting with Schainblatt Thursday to begin proposing changes to the flood operations plan to better respond in the future.

“We’re making some pretty major changes to our flood plan,” he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan at 707-521-5249 or mary.callahan@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MaryCallahanB.