a/k/a Todd Seminary for Boys?
Does anyone have any history for the School? Or know when Grace Hall was constructed?
Who would like the building preserved? How would you suggest it be preserved?
WCLS offers it for a buck. That's a joke. How much will it cost WCLS to tear it down and cart away the debris? If someone will cart it away, WCLS ought to pay them, not charge them a buck for the building!
Plan Commission member Steve Gavers suggested it might cost in the "seven figures" to move it. I'll add, if it could be moved at all. Can you just imagine lifting the structure onto rollers and then pushing/pulling it along Route 47?
What would it cost to modernize it into condominiums with up-to-date wiring, plumbing, windows, HVAC, etc.? Elevators? Escalators? Is the building itself solid? What about asbestos?
To what location will the corporate offices of WCLS, now located in Grace Hall, be moved? Anything in the plans about a new Admin. building?
I don't have a dog in this fight, as they say. I didn't even intend to speak at the public hearing, until I realized that all testimony is sworn testimony.
Could Grace Hall be the WCLS centerpiece for the next 50 years? And what will happen then, when a different corporate head, different Plan Commission, different City Council and different residents gather to ponder its future or its demise?
You never know who is interested…
3 months ago
4 comments:
Of Course, my first comment posted earlier, below:
While the intrigue behind Quinn's statement is interesting, a more important discussion would be public "takings".
For all we know, Orson Welles may have a taken a crap in Grace Hall. Probably after those infamous dinners for 4 he used to hold without the benefit of an additional 3 dinner companions. So what?
As far as Eugene Debs is concerned, he can go to hell.
Additionally, Grace Hall itself is a handsome building. However, upon the shortest of reflections, one can see that in its current state, it can no longer be used for multi-tenant domestic purposes without significant modification and rennovations bringing it up to code, necessities that this organization cannot afford. Not to mention that in doing so, it puts the building off-limits to public tours anyway.
From where is the greater public getting the idea they have the right to appropriate private property - especially for sentimental reasons? This concept predates the idiotic Supreme Court decision of Kelo vs. the City of New London. It is more idiotic than all the impromptu roadside memorials we're now plagued with.
If this is such a significant building, let the city or a civic group step up to the plate and BUY it or lease it in order to preserve what they feel is an important structure.
Is this tenuous link with past going to produce any more than one hotel room rental each month, much less 3 more lunches on the square in the same time frame?
Get real. Put up or shut up!
DBTR
And on this posting:
>>>> Who would like the building preserved? How would you suggest it be preserved?
How and by whom would you suggest pays for this?
>>>> WCLS offers it for a buck. That's a joke.
That's what it takes to legally make it a sale, not a gift. Also absolves the previous owner for any liability on it as well.
>>>> How much will it cost WCLS to tear it down and cart away the debris? If someone will cart it away, WCLS ought to pay them, not charge them a buck for the building!
Again, it makes it a sale. Having been in real estate appraisal, as well as having done a lot of coursework in architecture, I can tell you that the cost to demolish is not that high.
There can be offsets involved too, where building materials can be recycled and sold, sometimes at a fairly handsome price. Old brick alone can be worth a fortune.
Before obtaining pertinent life experience, I too thought that demolition was always wrong, yet came to understand that it CAN be cheaper to wreck and rebuild, not only in the beginning, but also when viewing costs out into the future for maintenance and energy.
>>>> What would it cost to modernize it into condominiums with up-to-date wiring, plumbing, windows, HVAC, etc.? Elevators? Escalators? Is the building itself solid? What about asbestos?
The real question is, who would buy it, do that rennovation, and whether or not there is market for those units in the first place in your market area.
>>>> To what location will the corporate offices of WCLS, now located in Grace Hall, be moved? Anything in the plans about a new Admin. building?
Obviously, the answer to that question is not the public's concern. WCLS is perfectly capable in making those decisions for itself.
>>>> Could Grace Hall be the WCLS centerpiece for the next 50 years?
Again, their choice, their decision. I don't think at this juncture, with the planning that they've done, that this is an issue they've ignored for themselves.
>>> And what will happen then, when a different corporate head, different Plan Commission, different City Council and different residents gather to ponder its future or its demise?
Then there will be new housing, providing better, more desireable living arrangements, as well as some construction jobs, etc.
DBTR
Right down the street from WCLS is Emerson Lofts. If there was ever a candidate for demolition, wasn't that old manufacturing building a good one?
I haven't been in the models to see what they did to create condos there, but they saved the building. Too bad the real estate market turned when it did, but the condos are there. Anybody in the market for close-in housing?
Apples and oranges.
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