[August 02, 2008]

Historic buildings' fate clogs blog

(Herald-Sun, The (Durham, NC) (KRT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Aug. 2--DURHAM -- News that downtown titan Greenfire Development might be demolishing three historic buildings on Main Street has whipped local preservationists into a frenzy.

Gary Kueber, the blogger behind Endangered Durham, a Web site dedicated to chronicling historic structures in Durham, first broke the news Thursday that Greenfire had filed for a demolition application with the city.

From there, the news was forwarded by architect Scott Harmon to one neighborhood listserv, then picked up by another resident and forwarded to another, and then another.

And pretty soon, residents were expressing disappointment with Greenfire on Kueber's blog, prompting owner Michael Lemanski to write in himself.

"We are preparing for the possibility that we will not be able to keep these buildings intact," he wrote, adding, "We have not made any decisions on how these properties may be integrated into our Parrish Street project."

The three buildings in question are located at 118 W. Main/113 W. Parrish St., 120 W. Main St. and 122 W. Main St.

The developer is in the pre-development stages on the Parrish Street Office Tower, a 200,000-square-foot Class A office space at the old Woolworth's site abutting the three buildings. The tower would be on West Parrish and Corcoran streets. It would include retail shops and a museum celebrating the history of Black Wall Street, according to details of Greenfire's master plan released in February.

Greenfire spokeswoman Anna Branly confirmed Friday that they did apply for a certificate of appropriateness for demolition with the city's Historic Preservation Commission.

"We're looking into getting started soon on the Parrish Street and Woolworth site," Branly said. "This will give us an option to demolish the property if that's what we determine will need to happen. But we have not made a decision to do that."

However, she echoed Lemanski in saying, "It is likely that these buildings are not going to remain fully intact."

For his part, Kueber said he highlighted the buildings in his blog even though they are not very significant, architecturally speaking. But they are part of the backbone that make up the historic downtown.

Ideally, he said, the buildings would be completely restored along the lines of what Greenfire has already accomplished with the Baldwin and Kress buildings at Main and Mangum streets and its Rogers Alley redevelopment.

"I feel like we don't have any room to completely lose any more historic structures in downtown. There's just so few left," Kueber said.

Kueber is also a real estate development associate for Scientific Properties, another major downtown developer. On Friday, he took care to emphasize that his blog is a personal project separate from professional responsibilities.

The buildings in question are not in the best shape. Branly said one has water damage and another at 120 W. Main St. is a burnt-out shell, gutted by a fire in 2001.

Kueber said Friday the preservation of a building in the face of a developer's plans to demolish it is virtually impossible.

The Historic Preservation Commission can delay the demolition for 365 days, but after that, the owner can do with the building as it wishes. Planning Director Steve Medlin said the commission is the only hurdle facing a developer for demolition of a historic building. The delay presumably provides time to sell the building or find other ways of maintaining or renovating it.

From time to time, Medlin said, there has been some political push in the city for stronger barriers against demolition of historic buildings, but none of them ever took root.

Kueber said he hopes residents will contact the Durham City Council and Greenfire itself to save the buildings.

"It's absolutely still an uphill battle," he said. "We just aren't armed in this city with any kind of policy tools that really takes a structure off the table for demolition."

Branly said the buildings have been taken off the Aug. 5 agenda for the Historic Preservation Commission. The decision was made before Kueber's blog post, she said.

"We decided we need to take a little bit more time," she said. "And we need to do more with the community so it doesn't feel rushed."

The item is now on the Sept. 2 agenda. The commission will meet at 8:30 a.m. in the Committee Room on the second floor of City Hall.

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