2011 People In Preservation Award Winners

For the twenty-ninth year, it is SOHO's honor to recognize outstanding preservationists and their achievements with the region's most prestigious historic preservation award. Sandor Shapery has personally saved through the purchase, restoration, rehabilitation, and renovation, more buildings from SOHO's Most Endangered List and from internal watch list than any other person in SOHO's history. His drive to preserve some of the most neglected and endangered of historic resources in San Diego, and to prevail, embodies the best of preservation and adaptive reuse.

These projects include Victoria Square in downtown San Diego; the South Park Historical Center, which includes 1912 Fire Station #9, the oldest standing fire station in the City of San Diego; the 1914 Burlingame Garage and the 1924 Rose Grocery; and the 1925 Munter & Munter gas station; the Lyon Building and Lyon Rental, also known as the 15th Street Apartment Hotel on the southwest corner of 15th and J Streets downtown; and most recently Sandor has taken on one of SOHO's top watch list buildings in San Diego, the Bay View Hotel. Sited on the northeast corner of Park Boulevard and Island, the Bay View is one of the first hotels built in Horton's new downtown San Diego. Now known as the Palms, it will be renamed upon completion of the rehabilitation with its major components of restoration, and will become Downtown San Diego's first historically restored assisted living and memory care facility.