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Historic Fire Station in Dilworth/South End


Norm2

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It looks like the historic fire station next to the Arlington is going to face the wrecking ball. it is the very last fire station in Charlotte that is designed for horse drawn fire trucks.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/topstories/story/1248235.html

The city and historic commission should make it as difficult as possible for this guy to tear it down. I'd even support eminent domain in this case to save something like this. It's utterly ridiculous for him to think he could get what he paid for it or more in the current economy.

What an idiot. Charlotte, don't let one of the few remaining pieces of your history be torn down. You've lost so much of it already.

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The city and historic commission should make it as difficult as possible for this guy to tear it down. I'd even support eminent domain in this case to save something like this. It's utterly ridiculous for him to think he could get what he paid for it or more in the current economy.

What an idiot. Charlotte, don't let one of the few remaining pieces of your history be torn down. You've lost so much of it already.

Indeed. It is both the blessing and curse of Charlotte - we've let developers run roughshod over the city for the longest time. It is why we have so many wonderful skyscrapers and also why we have so few historic buildings.

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Sad that so many on the Observer are defending the owners right to get what he paid for it at the peak of the boom/bubble. He basically wants the same or more money than he paid in 06' or 07'.

This looks like another case of tearing it down for cheaper property taxes. This has been going on since the 1960's unfortunately. If people made such a big deal out of the cinder block coffee cup building, this should really raise a stink. After all, preserving the coffee cup was more about symbolism than the building itself.

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Is it possible to relocate a structure like this? It has great architectural value, but not in its current location, given that everything around it has been or will be destroyed. Why not move it further into South End on Camden where it will fit in and be more functional as a restaurant or shop?

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Maybe I'm being over optimistic about this, but i'm pretty sure this building will stay. The owner made a really stupid mistake and now wants to save a little face not to mention $. He's basically playing the one card he has now which is "if you don't pay I'm going to tear yr beloved landmark down." However, the city has a few more cards to play than he does. All they have to do is threaten to lock it up in the 1 year holding tank and he is done. Basically take what we're giving you now or make another $40K worth of interest payments and sell yr property a year later in what most people in commercial RE agree will be a worse time than even now. This is not Beazer and the Coffee Cup. This guy's point of max pain is much closer than multibillion $ public company.

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^ Good point...I have followed this saga closely for a while. I believe the city or county COULD take the property by imminent domain, even after he has held it for the 365 stay of demolition, causing him double losses (assuming prices are still deflated).-

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I had a sense when I read the article that it was just a negotiating ploy, but considering this building is actually on the National Register (pretty rare for Charlotte), it would be really upsetting to have it torn down. That is especially true because it is unlikely he could get the price he wants from the market anyway. Seems like he would take the fact that there is a qualified buyer and just take it. I hope the authorities do everything they can to pressure the situation to go in such a way to save this building.

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Maybe the County should re-assess properties relatively "healthy" enough to see major building permit activitiy. Then, if he still demolishes the building, his future tax assessment should move closer to the value he thought of as "too low" of an offer.

"Sir... it appears there has been a clerical error in the tax office and we misplaced a decimal when assessing your property. Instead of $1.1 million we actually meant to appraise it as $110000."

:D

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Evidently there is a facebook page supporting saving the station.

Also, interesting to note the owner has finally chimed in saying he is a simple small business owner that cannot afford to hold the property as-is any longer. Even more reason for the Landmarks group to play hardball with this "small business owner" that just took out $1.0 mil on his house in foxcroft and another $800K on his condo in Rosewood.

Dutch auction time:

$950K today...

$925K next week...

$900K the next week...

Yell stop when you've had enough!

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  • 2 months later...

Demolition equipment has been parked out front since Monday.

A new negotiating technique? Anyone know if a demo permit has been pulled?

EDIT: They put DH Griffin signs in both upstairs windows today just in case anyone missed their original point.

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Demo is scheduled for the 12th. Hopefully something can be done at the last minute to prevent this from happening. We should all just gather around the fire station and protest it being knocked down. While I love all the new shiny things that get built here, the constant demo of our history is just absurd. And for what? A fricking parking lot? :stop:

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That is some serious bluffing! :(. In this case, I hope the city just pays the price for it. We have so few historic structures (this one is actually registered as a historic building), the value of the history is much higher.

In retrospect, why didn't this building become the trolley museum? Seems awfully silly to build a brand new building to honor our early-20th century history.

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It makes little sense to devalue your property (as demolition would) if you want to sell it. But if no one is buying in this market, demolition may be his foolish attempt to devalue his property just in time for tax reassessments. The owner has certainly been foolish before, buying high back when the market was overheated.

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It makes little sense to devalue your property (as demolition would) if you want to sell it. But if no one is buying in this market, demolition may be his foolish attempt to devalue his property just in time for tax reassessments. The owner has certainly been foolish before, buying high back when the market was overheated.

I would think that property tax savings would be less than the cost of demo...(in the short-term)

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It just doesn't add up. He paid over $1 million for the property in 2006, when it is now appraised at $950,000. And that's the value so long as the building actually remains. He was offered $250,000 by Center City Partners to help save the building, or even $950,000 by the Landmarks Commission to actually sell. But supposedly, he has a buyer in Florida willing to pay $1.4 million for a vacant lot??? Unless the buyer in Florida is more foolish than this guy, this is a very dramatic bluff. Of course, he could still demolish out of spite, but that's a very costly revenge, in terms of lost resale value.

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It just doesn't add up. He paid over $1 million for the property in 2006, when it is now appraised at $950,000. And that's the value so long as the building actually remains. He was offered $250,000 by Center City Partners to help save the building, or even $950,000 by the Landmarks Commission to actually sell. But supposedly, he has a buyer in Florida willing to pay $1.4 million for a vacant lot??? Unless the buyer in Florida is more foolish than this guy, this is a very dramatic bluff. Of course, he could still demolish out of spite, but that's a very costly revenge, in terms of lost resale value.

Its a pure bluff. The guy is struggling financially and has history of misdealings. This is only his latest gaff.

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Why can't Center City Partners use the 250k to move the building? Jackass get's his empty lot, and the neighborhood keeps their building. I'm sure there is someone with a vacant lot nearby who would gladly have an antique firehouse on it.

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Why can't Center City Partners use the 250k to move the building? Jackass get's his empty lot, and the neighborhood keeps their building. I'm sure there is someone with a vacant lot nearby who would gladly have an antique firehouse on it.

It would look great on Camden across from phat burrito.

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Well, the building is reportedly going to be saved.

The former Fire Station No. 2 at 1212 South Boulevard was scheduled for demolition, but owner Marcel Stark announced Wednesday afternoon that a private deal had been struck to save the building.

"Community South and Sherbert Consulting Group have come in and provided a finance package and structure to be able to preserve this historic building," Stark said.

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Well, I was really starting to doubt the people saying it was just a bluff by the owner, but the same day that the headlines read that it would take a miracle to save it, we got a headline that it was saved. Thank goodness we still have banks here that actually care about the local community (um... where the hell were the megabanks on this one? Community South!?).

I'm relieved because as Michael Smith put it, our inventory of historic buildings is extreeeemely low (other than single family homes), so whatever we can do to save what remains, the better. Hopefully what is built to go in the building will be a useful so I can support them.

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