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wrldcoupe4

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  • 3 weeks later...

NOOOO!!!!!! :cry:

Norfolk says historic buildling poses danger

A historic building downtown poses a serious risk to passers-by, say city officials who are threatening to tear it down.

Two pieces of glass have fallen from the eight-story Bankers Trust Building, at 161 Granby St., according to the city's code official, Lynn Underwood.

Now the parapet - the exterior wall on the top floor - is deteriorating, "creating the risk of a serious injury to citizens below," Underwood wrote in a Dec. 1 letter to the building's owners, Bobby Wright and Craig Dean.

The 106-year-old Bankers Trust Building, distinctive because it leans slightly to the north, was obtained by Wright and Dean nearly three years ago. They had it inspected, and its interior was immediately declared unsafe.

I would hate to see that building go because it gives the intersection where Trader sits at so much character and really emphasizes the density of the area. If it has to go for safety reasons however I understand.

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I would like to see them save the building, but hasn't it been sitting like that for some years now?

Yeah, its been empty for a while. When they first purchased the building there was a little deli in the bottom floor if I remember correctly but were then forced to move because of safety issues. Its probably going to be much much cheaper to tear it down and then redevelop the property given its current condition. If it comes down, I just hope something taller goes in. If that happens, there is going to be sooo much debate over the architecture that should replace the building! =)

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This is a shame, because in order for something taller to be built on that site, other historic structures would also probably have to go. It's hard to make workable floor plans for today's market with such a small footprint for a high-rise, although it could be done. It looks like a really expensive rehab, but I'd love to see it preserved, lean and all.

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well that answers my question, the building is still leaning.

I would hate to see it go, but I wouldn't be shocked either. The building was build on mud, back when they really didn't know how to handle doing that. It would be extremely costly to fix for a building that could never make that money back with office rental.

Would be a sweet location for a modern pencil tower.

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Hmm...Perhaps I should read these articles more carefully.

The 106-year-old Bankers Trust Building, distinctive because it leans slightly to the north, was obtained by Wright and Dean nearly three years ago. They had it inspected, and its interior was immediately declared unsafe.

Wright said then that he wanted to develop the building into condominiums. On Thursday, Dean said the building likely will be demolished and replaced with an office or residential tower.

So even if the city backs off of condemnation the building will likely be torn down anyway because that is what the owners prefer. I'm afraid to say that this piece of Norfolks history days are number. One silver lining is that we may get a mixed use tower out of this. Lets just hope that whatever is designed for that lot is something truly magnificent, and not just some bland structure that makes us wish they had left the damn building alone in the first place.

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Someone needs to take a few pics of said building before it's too late!

I second that.

Cool to hear that it would be getting redeveloped. It is a small lot to work with, so I hope it will be tall and interesting. A corner lot like that, especially in such a key part of the downtown needs to have the highest level of architecture quality and thought put into it. Nothing half assed please, and nothing from CMSS.

Just measured it on Google Earth, it is about 91ft long and about 42ft on the east side and 31ft on the west side. So no matter what they build the building will have an odd shape to it. Plus to pull a profit, I am betting they will have to go higher than what it currently is. Although curious is the own the building south of it as well and plan to tear that down too because that would give this building a larger footprint.....although, I hope not, would be nice to see a 15 story skinny tower rise up at Granby and City Hall.

Edited by urbanlife
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I would think that the owners of this building would want to take advantage of the tax credits for re-habbing this historical structure. I hope the city doesn't tear it down. Nothing will do that location justice.

Just look at the Federal Building, it has nowhere near the arcitecturual grandeur of the Monticello Hotel.

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I would think that the owners of this building would want to take advantage of the tax credits for re-habbing this historical structure. I hope the city doesn't tear it down. Nothing will do that location justice.

Just look at the Federal Building, it has nowhere near the arcitecturual grandeur of the Monticello Hotel.

Yeah, but this building has a serious foundation problem that even a tax credit couldn't cover. This is like straightening the Leaning Tower of Pisa. If they did correct the lean, there would be no way to make enough money on such a small building to pull any form of profit.

I knew it was just a matter of time before it had to come down, that is just the reality of it. Although I am happy the new owners are planning on rebuilding on the site. The previous owners would of probably had the building torn down and left as an open lot.

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Oh, I wasn't making the connection. This is the building that Wright owns that had the long standing deli that had to move out on a day's notice that the entire thing might come down. There have been for-sale signs on it for a while. I'm sure it was a blow to him after that, but he has easily made it up with the rapid appreciation of the other properties thruout downtown Norfolk. Talk about being at the right place at the right time! Or is that Wright? Seemed like an okay guy.

That is a fairlly large building. For a while the windows weren't covered and you could see where there was a whole bunch of digging done inside.

I checked out the apartments right next door. The rooms were all trapezoid shaped, and I was scratching my head because the shapes of the rooms would make it so less furniture would fit in there... and the bedroom would be hard pressed to fit a smaller bed. It was odd. Cavalier Land property... the location was supposidly the attraction, stumble home from Granby or something.

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it has leaned for as long as I can remember. I am almost 29 and I can easily say it has leaned for over the past 20 years. It is probably much worse now than it was 20 years though, but I remember back in 2001, thinking to myself that they were going to need to tear it down sooner or later.

While it will be a lose to the city, it seems like the right thing to do. I could not expect someone to straighten that building and stand to lose that much money just to save a little building downtown. As long as something good replaces it, then I see no problems.

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