Another of the fire-damaged buildings in the 400 block of East Adams Street in downtown Springfield is being demolished, but historic preservation advocates are pleased that the adjacent one will now be saved.
The buildings at 417-421 E. Adams St.,
just east of where the June 19 fire occurred, are owned by a limited liability
company managed by Ben Call and Bill Marriott, who are both commercial brokers
in the area. The buildings, consisting of a private parking garage on the main
floor with apartments and offices above, were heavily damaged as a result of
the fire in the adjoining building.
On Dec. 12, the owners filed a
demolition permit to take down the upper stories of the buildings, leaving the
parking garage intact. However, it was subject to a 60-day waiting period due
to the location in the downtown historic district.
The city of Springfield’s Historic
Sites Commission held a special meeting Feb. 3 and approved the demolition
permit on the condition that the first-floor space be kept intact. It was also
agreed that building materials would be salvaged and reused to the extent
possible, including the Lanphier stone on the façade of one of the buildings.
Call previously said that the bids for
renovating the two buildings, which had office space and apartments in addition
to a parking garage, were in excess of $4.7 million.
"Unfortunately, the water damage
and the length of time between the fire and us getting it sorted out led to the
mold damage being so great in both buildings that it wasn't feasible to try to
rehab them. ... it is not a situation we can do," he told Illinois
Times in January. "The limit of our insurance was significantly less
than the bids we had to even partially remodel."
However, Call said March 21 that he
and Marriott have been working with David Leonatti, an architect who also serves
as vice president of the Downtown Springfield Heritage Foundation, on plans for
renovating the building at 421 E. Adams St. once the adjacent property is
demolished.
The Heritage Foundation opposed the
demolitions, and president Scott Troehler said recent discussions with the
owners have been promising.
“While we’re disappointed that the
Zimmerman building was damaged beyond repair, we’re encouraged that the
Lanphier building will be saved. We appreciate the efforts of the owners and
will continue to offer assistance in helping to identify any funding options or
other resources that can help offset the cost,” Troehler said, noting that the
west wall of the Zimmerman building was badly compromised.
Call said the shared wall to the east
had to be shored up to make sure that the building at 421 E. Adams St. could be
saved. The garage structure on the ground level of 417 E. Adams St. will remain
in place.
“We lost eight apartments in the fire,
four in the Zimmerman building and four in the Lanphier building,” said Call. “We’re
going to try and put a couple of apartments on the second floor (of 421 E.
Adams St.) that was previously office space, plus put back the same four apartments
above. That would give us a total of six apartments and put us closer back to
where we were before the fire,” he said.
While Call said he anticipates a “lengthy
process with the city,” before getting approve to proceed with renovations, “we
feel like this is a plan that gets us in a better place than we were.”
Troehler said he is also optimistic about
the revised plan.
“We’re hopeful that we can work with
the owners to keep the other building standing and get that renovated and
filled up again,” he said. “Fifty percent of something is better than 100% of
zero.”
The building at 413 E. Adams St., where the fire originated, was demolished at the end of last year. Structural engineers designed special brackets to stabilize the wall that was between Café Moxo and the three-story building that was destroyed by the fire. While that was being resolved, owner Mark Forinash announced that Café Moxo would be relocating to the former Three Twigs Co. space on the city’s west side. The restaurant reopened March 8 at 2661 Chatham Road, although Forinash has said that he hopes to eventually open a second location downtown.
Chris Nickell, who owns the building that housed Café Moxo as well as the one at 413 E. Adams St. that had to be demolished, said he has been focusing on the upper stories of the remaining building.
“Once Moxo decided not to move back in, I focused my energy on getting
the apartments upstairs ready instead of getting the restaurant back open. One
of the apartments is occupied already, and we have the other three complete except
for some flooring. They’ll be available before the first of April,” Nickell
said.
“I’ve had Public Health in the Moxo space already and they gave me the
thumbs-up on the tear out,” he said. “I’m going to start advertising for a
tenant, because I don’t want to do a whole bunch of work until I have somebody
lined up. That way, we can design it for a particular tenant.”
