Monday, February 08, 1999
Mall buildings worth saving, groups say
BY JANET C. WETZEL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
MIDDLETOWN — As city commissioners wrestle with what to do about the dilapidated City Centre Mall, two historical groups are making a pitch for preservation.
Members of the Middletown Historical Society and Preservation Restoration Improvement of South Main (PRISM) want the city to focus on saving the mall buildings, rather than demolishing some, as has been suggested.
“We don't see that there is any logical reason to tear them down,” said Kevin Summers, president of the historical society and a PRISM member.
“These buildings carry significant physical heritage in Middletown,” Mr. Summers said. “We're talking about two blocks of buildings ranging in age from 1875 to about 1930. Most of those buildings have been around for as long as the longest memory of anyone living in this town.”
The buildings include five different architectural styles, Mr. Summers said.
The two groups are preparing statements to give to city commissioners at their Feb. 16 meeting.
Commissioners have heard various proposals and ideas about what to do about the buildings to get the city out of the mall business and avoid extensive maintenance and renovation. The idea that still appears to be in the lead is one of several from Jonathan Sandvick, a Cleveland architect, called Option D. It includes tearing off most of the roof, restoring the building facades, reopening Central Avenue and adding a farmers market, costing about $17 million.
But Commissioner Paul Nenni and others are still considering trying to buy all the buildings at a fair market price. The city could save those worth saving and demolish the others.
“I can understand why people are concerned about historic preservation and want to save them, but it's my fiduciary responsibility to be careful with the money I'm in charge of,” Mr. Nenni said.
Mr. Nenni said the city might be able to set aside the amount it would cost to demolish dilapidated buildings and use it to get developers to buy and renovate them.
The Downtown Middletown Partnership supports the stance taken by the Historical Society and PRISM because past studies have shown the buildings are viable, said Charles “Chuck” VanRenterghem, partnership executive director.
The partnership “is 100 percent behind Option D, and as for the need to demolish any buildings, we'll take each building and judge them one at a time as far as the possibility of being renovated.”
A developer, TRT Properties Inc., has bought three of the buildings that encompass nearly a block and plans to redevelop them. And there is apparently redevelopment interest in many of the other buildings, Mr. Summers said.
PRISM members “obviously have a high stake in what happens to downtown. We live downtown,” he said.
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