Historic Preservation Commission will have last word on buildings

By Jennifer Jacob Brown

jjacob@themeridianstar.com



The Meridian City Council has been getting a lot of attention lately.

With a vote on the controversial Threefoot downtown hotel project expected for Tuesday, all eyes are on the five council members who will make what is a huge decision for Meridian. If the council nixes Threefoot, the equally controversial Lala downtown hotel is expected to go in its place.

But in this case, the council members aren't the only ones with huge decision making power. However the council votes, it's another group that will have the last word on what happens to buildings downtown — Meridian's Historic Preservation Commission.

Any major modification or demolition of any historic building in Meridian, or any building within a historic district, must acquire the preservation commission's mark of approval — in the form of a certificate of appropriateness — before work can legally be done.

The Threefoot proposal has been controversial from the get-go because in it developer HRI Properties asks for $14 million in city-backed loans, but it became even more controversial last month when local hotel magnate Abdul Lala unveiled plans to build a new construction hotel right down the street with completely private funding, saying that he would only build if the council nixed the Threefoot idea.

On top of asking the council to reject HRI's proposal, Lala has said that he will need the council to donate or sell city land where the recently demolished Brookshire building once stood, as well as coordinate with his project on street closings and other details.

The council has the power to block or aid both projects. They can block the Threefoot project by voting against the proposal, and they can block the Lala project withholding the city property Lala needs.

But whatever the council does, the Historic Preservation Commission has the power to undermine — major parts of both projects fall under their jurisdiction.

The Threefoot building is on the National Register of Historic Places and has been designated a state historic landmark. The M&F Bank building, which Lala would like to demolish to make way for his hotel, is also on the national register. Though Lala has said that he could still build the hotel without demolishing the M&F building, other buildings on 23rd Avenue that Lala would absolutely need to demolish for his hotel, though on the national register, are in a national historic district.

Whether the Threefoot proposal or the Lala project is chosen by the council, the next step for either developer will be getting a certificate of appropriateness from the Historical Preservation Commission. If the Threefoot project is chosen, the developers will still have to answer to the commission even after the project is approved, because the commission has the power to issue a stop work order on historic building renovations. This was recently done with the McLemore building on Front Street, where a Tuscaloosa developer began construction on a night club but was not allowed to finish.

The commission is made up of seven members: architect and board chairman Arjen Lagendijk, former teacher Ruby Yarbrough, local artist and gallery owner Greg Cartmell, MCC history instructor Ed Abdella, minister and executive director of the Youth Excitement Team charity Gary Houston, attorney and long-time commissioner Robert Bresnahan, and former MHS history teacher Jonas Crenshaw.

Because it is a state landmark, the Threefoot building falls under the jurisdiction of both the Historic Preservation Commission and Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Though the MDAH does not have any say over historic building modification in most cases, modifications to state landmarks and publicly owned historic buildings do have to receive MDAH approval.

So anything that's done to the Threefoot, be it restoration or demolition, has to get the okay from both entities. "Archives and History are working with our city on the renovation of Threefoot," Community Development Planner Randall Gaither said, but demolition is another matter.

If the council nixes the HRI proposal and no other renovation opportunities come along, they will have to acquire MDAH approval before demolishing the Threefoot building.

Meridian mayor John Robert Smith said Thursday that MDAH had told him to expect a letter saying that they would not approve the demolition of the Threefoot building because it is a civic landmark. That means the city would have to stabilize the building at a greater cost, letting it continue to stand as an empty hulk until another renovation opportunity presents itself.

Some other publicly owned downtown buildings associated with the Threefoot project have already been demolished. The Brown Printing and Continental Trailways Bus Station buildings on 23rd Avenue were deemed not historically significant or worthy of landmark status by MDAH and approved for demolition, Gaither said.

Lala has proposed building his hotel, a Hyatt Place franchise, on 23rd Avenue between Fifth and Sixth Streets. He would have to tear down all or most of the buildings on that block to make room for his hotel. Only one building — the old M&F Bank — is on the National Register of Historic Places, but all of them are in a National Historic District.

Contrary to what has been suggested by some city officials, none of these buildings would have to be approved for demolition by the state.

"If the private owner of a building wants to tear that down and use their own money we (MDAH) can't stop them," said Bill Gatlin, an architectural historian for MDAH. "The real power to say whether you can or can't do that lies with the local preservation commission." Their certificate of appropriateness or denial thereof "should be legally enforceable," Gatlin said.

The preservation commission may deny a certificate of appropriateness for demolition of buildings that are not historic, but are in a historic district, if they feel the demolition will reduce the overall historic value of the district or reduce the tax incentive value of other buildings in the area.

"It's the national register district that gives property owners the right to apply for rehabilitation tax credits," Gatlin said. "So tearing down a block of buildings in the district could jeopardize other building owners' ability to get credits."

Gaither said the process of determining whether a certificate is issued is subjective.

"There are seven commissioners. Each one of them is going to have a spin on that decision," he said. "In my opinion... In large measure it's going to depend upon what goes back into the place of what was demolished."

One thing the commission thinks about, Gaither said, is what the new building will be like in 50 years. If they tear down something old and venerable, he said, they likely will want to replace it with something that will be at least as venerable once it becomes old.

They also look at the state of the existing building, he said. The more feasible it is to save an existing building and make it useful again, the less likely it is that the preservation commission will approve its demolition.

This particular criteria could pose a problem for Lala in the case of the historic M&F Bank Building, in which Meridian Mayor John Robert Smith said Trustmark bank has already expressed interest.

Another consideration of the commission is whether the demolition/modification of an existing building will help the economic viability of the remaining historic area downtown. This consideration could work in Lala's favor, since he wants to put a major development into a very underdeveloped area.

Many city officials and others have speculated that the preservation commission will not approve the demolition required for Lala's proposal, especially of the M&F Bank building, but commission chairman Arjen Lagendijk did not return repeated phone calls asking for his opinion. The commission is appointed by the mayor, who is strongly and vocally in favor of the Threefoot project.

City Councilman George Thomas (Ward 1) said last week that the council's final decision was still very uncertain. But whichever project they choose, the developer will still have others to answer to. The vote will be a turning point, not an end, to the story of downtown development.