Hunter Smith One More Time !!!!!
What's happening with the Hunter Smith Building, nothing good or cheap. Many have noticed the latest addition to the Hunter-Smith building, a nice canopy of sorts built on the north side. This isn't to keep the rain off those on the sidewalk but to keep the plaster and brick off their pretty heads. As the building continues to sit waiting for the imaginary "white knight" to come buy it for a million bucks it continues to rack up huge expenses and liabilities. The talk now is to have someone scrape the plaster from the bricks at an estimated cost of about $50,000.00. It may be much higher when the person actually inspects the building and sees that it's the plaster that is holding up the bricks.
One question is what happened to the "many offers that were coming in each month" as reported by the County Executive when she advised the Budget Committee against selling the building for, if I remember correctly $125,000.00. It seems the County Executive and some commissioners wanted $150,000.00 so the only real offer that has been officially presented to the commission was turned down. Meanwhile that desire for another $25,000.00 has cost the county at least $150,000.00 or more.
Realistically, and most commissioners know this but are unwilling to make such an unpopular decision, the only thing left for this decrepit eyesore is to tear it down and either sale the lot or build on it. It is way past time for something to be done with this bottomless money pit. It was a mistake to buy it in the beginning and an even bigger mistake to hold on to it instead of admitting it was a mistake and getting rid of it even at a loss. In total all expenses including tearing it down and hauling it off I estimate the county will have paid out well over half a million dollars. Each month that cost goes up. Allen Barrett
One question is what happened to the "many offers that were coming in each month" as reported by the County Executive when she advised the Budget Committee against selling the building for, if I remember correctly $125,000.00. It seems the County Executive and some commissioners wanted $150,000.00 so the only real offer that has been officially presented to the commission was turned down. Meanwhile that desire for another $25,000.00 has cost the county at least $150,000.00 or more.
Realistically, and most commissioners know this but are unwilling to make such an unpopular decision, the only thing left for this decrepit eyesore is to tear it down and either sale the lot or build on it. It is way past time for something to be done with this bottomless money pit. It was a mistake to buy it in the beginning and an even bigger mistake to hold on to it instead of admitting it was a mistake and getting rid of it even at a loss. In total all expenses including tearing it down and hauling it off I estimate the county will have paid out well over half a million dollars. Each month that cost goes up. Allen Barrett
posted by Allen Barrett | 1:36 PM
42 Comments:
wab you have covered it all. What more can be said except to say lets get rid of of all these irresponsible commissioners who continue to dump tax payer money into this money pit. Where are all the buyers the CE claimed to be getting calls from.
WOW, YET ANOTHER THREAD INTENDED FOR SMEARING AND MALIGNING OTHERS. HOW MANY MORE WILL WE NEED BEFORE WE HAVE "COVERED THEM ALL"?
You MUST be kidding. They're STILL spending money on that relic?
Who in their right mind would want to own a building on the imploding square in beautiful downtown Pulaski?
Even the Commissioners and county mayor have moved their HQ Off the square .
It's a monstrosity that has survived beyond its time.
The front has been falling off it for years ...look at the missing chunks of plaster above what used to be the movie-house canopy. Now it's coming off the side ? Can roof collapse be far behind after the walls start to bulge and the floor joists come loose inside ?
Where's the city building inspector ?
The county needs to get a burn-permit and let the city fire department have some practice at in-building rescue before the whole building falls into its own basement.Hopefully the county already has the electricity, water and gas turned off and the insurance turned way UP . Or do they have some valuables stored inside needing heat in winter??
Does the benevolent person who wanted to pay $125,000 still want such a wreck? Maybe he/she will now offer $50,000, or maybe not as it has since become a public liability .
Hey 5-21
The ONLY people in danger of being 'smeared' are those walking on the outside of that dangerous building. A falling brick will smear you pretty good .
Time to tear it down quickly before someone gets really hurt.
Brickie
Would the commissioners that thought this was a great buy be willing to tear it down?
Monday, November 17, 2008 5:21:00 PM
Does anything ever please you?
While you are tearing things down take down the court house and then move on to Martin college!! No value in history of this town is there? You can just toss it all out and build more and more strip malls. Sure it is expensive to maintain those old buildings. What needs to happen is to loosen the constricts of government regulations and let the people who do care work on them. I would give my time FREE or cheap to help restore the downtown square. What happens is you raise sales taxes, you have slum lord owners, or you have a city government unable to allow workers without red tape and rubber stamped bids. Fear of lawsuits and criticism abound and money....is in very short supply. So, what to do is nothing until something happens to make a choice unavoidable. Take back your city and become available to solutions rather than armchair critics. It's not easy considering the aforementioned problems but this is a beautiful city, with great treasures of architecture in jeopardy. I think that Hunter Smith is a good example of deco architecture worth repair. Let someone step in that will work with that and make a deal to lease the building in exchange for repairs. Free if necessary with conditions. How many downtown's with potential are going to be lost to blah cookie cutter architecture (seen Lawrenceburg lately)or strip mall mentality. S.O.S. for Pulaski (Save Our Square)!!!!
Great idea 8:24 go the commissioners and ask to be given the building in exchange for you putting a hundred thousand or more of your own money into the repairs. Oh it isn't such a great idea when it come to using your own money. That's the problem everybody wants to spend other people's money for their history and frivolous pet projects.
8:24
I am a fan of art deco period but I dont really think the Hunter Smith qualifies. A little late having in built in the 40's. Historical building it is not. You also want to give it free to somebody who would restore it. Dont you know the county was offered $125,000 for it last year but turned it down. Now they are talking about spending MORE AND MORE of tax payers money to shore it up while waiting on that ever elusive buyer who will pay them what the have in it which has gotta be getting close to $500,000 Give me a break.
Hey folks , let's NOT get all catty about the H-S building .Can we try and keep things civil for once ??
If you haven't looked at it for a while , go take a walk around it . If you want to go inside it go ask at the court house for the key -It is taxpayers property , unsafe as it may be , so you're entitled to a look around it . You might want to take a flashlight and a hard hat and gloves .
When you're done inspecting then its time to decide if you want to make an offer over $10 for it and talk to your district commissioners about it. Maybe they personally will chip in another $10 to hang a Xmas wreath on the door.
The H -S building is not Art-deco it's Art-demo and it needs to meet its fate soon , before someone gets hurt by it falling on them in the street.It isnt even safe enough to have a mural painted on the 'falling brick' side. Yet another example of thoughtless expenditure by county commissioners who dont know what they are doing with your $$ -except spending it!!
Colodny
I hate to see the Sam Davis Theater tore down, but that's what happen when things aren't kept up.
Why in the world did the county buy it? No wonder Giles County has a high tax rate, the people running things with our money like a little of what I like a lot of.
If I was a commissioner that said ok to buying the HS building I would go hide.
Big mistake made, now we have to fix it.
No. I dont agree we have to fix it. I would say we should hope the one who offered $125,000 would still be inteerested and offer a smaller amount for it. Then come the commissioner elections in 2010 vote a bunch of them to stay home where they belong and get some responsible people elected in their place.
If no one offers to buy it and we let the sides keep falling and someone gets hurt. Don't you think they are going to sue the county?
Would be great if someone buys it.... but reading this blog do you think they will?
Don't look for the man who offered to buy it before the way he was treated and lied to I'd be surprised if he would even walk on the same side of the street as Vanzant and Wilburn.
The person who wanted to buy it planned to tear it down and put up townhouses I think? At any rate I agree that money spent has been wasted. Not that it's not a great building and worth salvaging. If you take a stroll inside many of the downtown buildings without rose colored glasses you will see a lot of flaws. No one will let you take a stroll through their basements, upstairs, or in the deep crevices. Hunter Smith can be propped up about as good as any other building downtown as well. The major work has been done now for the maintain it and make it usable. If you look around at what has been lost in Pulaski to the "burn and tear it down" mentality you might see things differently. Some things cannot be saved for the cost and disregard of people who own them without proper upkeep. Unless you have money or skills to take on an old building step aside and let someone else who does. Admit your shortcomings and call on the people who want to see it work to step up. Don't let it crumble before you get in there and start repairs.
The roof has to be replaced, the walls are crumbling and there is major structural problems. There is a possibility that it can't be torn down without doing major damage to the building next door it is so unstable. Other than those problems
a quarter of a million dollars might be able to save it.
Many of you folks are forgetting it dont come up to state code so if it stays with the county a load of cash has to be spent on it, same as if somebody buys it. State code still applies.
Your County Exec. at work again with YOUR TAX dollars! That building and the way she was spending money is just ONE reason the State was after her. Her only salvation was the voters ask for the Fincanial Act of 81 which the State had insisted on her to go under anyway. The Act was put into place in 1981 to get CROOKS out of office.
Now she is back for her second term. A lot of people forget the facts once they have been put in out there like this was in 2003.
None of you know how much money has already been spent on the building but it is way over what you think!!!
If anyone is to blame for the costly repairs and renovation to the H/S Bldg you need to remember who thought they could save the county money by hiring a non-state licensed contractor to do the job. Does Charlie Green, Stanley Newton, Paul Walker and I forgot who the others were,ring a bell? Not Janet Vanzant, she didn't vote on that. Most of the Commissioners in office today were handed that problem. Most of the Commissioners that voted to buy that building has either been voted out or didn't run or died.
The government has no business in the restoration work of old buildings. Why they took on the Hunter Smith is a mystery but getting as far away from it is in their best interest (and ours). Getting someone who appreciates and can afford to repair it is another matter. Forget what you and I have spent on it in tax dollars. Let's look to the answers of how to make a lemon into lemonade. What organization or business would like to step in and make the necessary repairs keeping the structure. In a town that is charging 10% sales tax during a deep recession who is going to open a retail businesss? Give it up to Martin and let them raise funds to fix it for something they need. When it is in the hands of a government entity the bids automatically go out the roof, the red tape gets thick, and when the work is completed it is usually sub par and twice the amount. How do you know the walls are crumbling and there are major structural problems? If you got that from a bid report then it sounds like someone may be milking the Giles County money cow. Take it out of the hands of the city and see how fast it can be fixed for WAY LESS!!!
Brindley did the report for the county on structural problems, etc.
Have you walked down the north side of the building you don't have to be a structural engineer to know when a piece of brick hits you in the head. Why do you think they built the canopy, for looks? Go learn something then come back and give instructions.
to AB - I am usually about 99.9 % against your positions on things, BUT , in this case , I agree. The location is Historic, but the building certainly isn't. Tear it down and rebuild a facsimile of the old cell where Sam Davis was held - cheaper to do, insure and will draw more people to the true historic place.
Apparently HS is the only building on the square with foundation.
tear it down & the whole square will collapse like dominos. Maybe courthouse too??/
Are you sure the plaster isn't the only thing needs tearing down?
Hope the county can sell it and learn by their mistake.
6:39 who are you talking to with your comment "go learn something and then come back and give instructions"? It's amazing how any rebuttal becomes "fighting words" for some on here.
Does anyone on here have a historic or "old" building or house? Or, if not have you ever been involved in the restoration or or repairs of an older structure? Just curious as it seems that the reason Giles County loses so many buildings and homes is the lack of support for preservation. It costs money that of course is in short supply but how about a creative answer? The bricks are not flying in the air on the square. If they were there are enough crumbling old buildings with poor bricks that are NOT owned by the city. Interesting that none of those are in danger of collapse? I would take that building and find a way to make it work. If that happened many of you would be lined up to complain how the city used so much money to allow someone to use it, fix it, or do anything but tear it down? Unless you get someone to line up and pay in these lean times then get someone to lease it with terms. Free rent or very low in exchange for liability and repairs. If it had been open and available when times were better that could have happened. Now that it's not someone can justify another demolition. Sad!!!
I have done extensive repairs to both very old and not so old buildings and in every case there are always unforeseen surprises that add to the cost and time.
The Hunter Smith building is old but certainly not a historic building. The basement is historical in a way but there is nothing down there now that was there when Sam Davis was held captive.
I agree had proper repairs been completed in the beginning it might be useful today. Even then the expense was almost prohibitive.
A group of very well meaning commissioners attempted to put the building in usable condition but after the County Executive, who had initially given approval, turned them into the state all work was halted and nothing has been done since.
More than a decade has passed of paying insurance, utilities and losing tax revenue and still nothing is done.
One offer was made to the property committee to purchase the building at $125,000.00. The committee wanted $150,000.00. The County Executive spoke up and told the committee not to take the offer as she had "offers coming into my office every week". The committee rejected the offer and there has not been another one since.
Why is it that people who want so badly to preserve the past always want to use other people's money to do it? If someone wanted to preserve the Hunter Smith Building hardly anyone would object as long as they used their money and kept their hands out of other people's pockets.
At this point I would support almost anything, that didn't cost the taxpayers money, to be rid of the dangerous eyesore. Allen Barrett
Amen to that Allen!
9:22
I personally love old buildings and like to see them preserved. In the case of the Hunter Smith bldg you are not dealing with a very old building. Then you seem to have lost track that it is a county owned building and anything done to that building has to be under the guidance of the state. This means meeting all state codes which are much tougher than what would be imposed on lets say the National store or some attorney's office around the square. Then you have to have all these specialists to do the demolition or any building. Thats what got the county messed up when the commissioners tried to make it useable. I can remember one commissioner saying it would take close to $1,000,000 to get it useable. Me? I'd rather that much money go toward getting people water in this county. There comes a point when you have to be practible.
Yes I agree as well with both Mr. Barrett and with you (2:14) that this is no place for our tax dollars, no place for the faint of heart, and yet a place that needs to be taken on. By that it needs to come out of the hands of the city for liabilities sake and for the sake of progress. Opening it up for a lease purchase perhaps? Something is better than nothing to gain ground on what is being lost in neglect and future funding. Anymore city or government monies spent in that direction would be misguided no matter how much I do love seeing it saved.Federal funding might be found if preservation could be made linking it with Sam Davis. Clarksville, TN had a similar old theatre that was made into a play house and dinner theatre. For years it looked like the eyesore that Hunter Smith has become. It's going to take a movement to get it out of the hands of the city and to someone who can make it work. At least then maybe if it does have to go all options have been exhausted. It does get costly and it does take a special breed to see the potential and take it all the way to that.
I'm not sure what you mean when you say the Hunter Smith building is in the hands of the city. The building belongs only to the county. At one point the city fire marshall did an inspection in order to provide advice to the county but now the county has a county "fire marshall" that probably changes. Grants were suggested a couple of years ago but rejected because the history is not there, according to Ms Vanzant who was the one who looked into grants. The building has structural problems and I believe asbestos.
County or city it really needs to go into the hands of a person looking to remodel or use it. If the history is not there and the structural issues outweigh the feasibility of remodeling it why own it? Now the persons who may find purpose in it have passed on it. Find a good realtor and get it on the market ASAP. It's time to cut the losses and recoup something from it. Asbestos can be found in many older homes but is not a likely danger unless demolition is done. Removing debris is costly as well as renovation. No job for county or city especially in these times.
5:39
The H/S has been in the hands of a realtor for more than a year. The property committee got one offer and turned it down based on Ms Vanzants comment that she had someone calling offering $175,000 and several calls coming into her office to buy the building. Those calls were never there. Now they have lost the offer that was made a few months ago.
It may need to come out of local realtors hands and go commercial with a national or international reach. Not MLS listing reach but a company that deals in turning over similar properties with better results. Maybe Ms. Vanzant had a lot of "offers" which turned out to be talk over action. It is not unusual to have someone come out of the woodwork to pay much more than offered and when the time avails itself they back out. Earnest money puts a stop to that as well as having approved bottom dollar price with specific limits prior to entertaining offers. As much money that has already gone into this it would be bad for her if this went cheap, right?
Have you ever tried to sale a dead dog? It takes a mighty big stretch to even get anyone interested.
The only value to the Hunter Smith property is the land it sits on and that is declining.
Keeping it is costing the county additional revenue and expense every month. Allen Barrett
9:15
Maybe the "talk" was all on the part of Ms Vanzant and I dont think she would look bad if the building was sold cheaper than what has been spent on it. The whole county is saying get rid of it at any price. Did you ever see the movie The Money Pit?
Wonder if someone could call Ms. Pelosi, the Obama Nation, & the Bushwhackers & see if we could get a bail out of this mess. We could use a billion or so & really turn this place around.
Maybe enough asbestest & asworstest in there to call it a disaster zone! Pray for a tornado?
The way the bosses here spend money a billion dollars wouldn't last more than a couple of weeks.
The whole county DID NOT say get rid of it!
What they have said over and over is why did you pay that for it and then spent all the extra money on it, to let it sit there empty.
COMMISSIONERS' with no back bone to speak up about why this all happened. Commissioners' should admit if they are afraid of her, or they simply don't know what is going on in her office or any office!
I think the comment I read on one of these post is the correct thing to do: Everyone one ask the commissioner to get her to resign and if she will not, ask the State District Attorney to open an investigation on her back to and including her election qulafications.
I thought wab and company had already done a thorough investigation of Mrs. Vanzant? Perhaps they should report their "findings" to the state district attorney? I'm sure he would if he thought he could get any traction with it.
Or some attention to himself!
8:53 Do you feel superior with your little snide remark? There is a saying, " lead, follow, or get out of the way." So maybe you don't like wab, at least he tries; think you can do better, step right up, sign your name and make Giles Co a better place, or just keep whining, that's real productive...
Kay
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