The historic Threefoot Building in downtown Meridian is in good shape, considering it’s 87 years old and hasn’t been occupied for two decades.

That was Kevin McMahon’s view as he toured the building Tuesday morning.

McMahon, a consultant with Partner Engineering and Science, was in town to do an environmental and property condition assessment on the circa-1930 structure.

McMahon’s report will help the developer as the building’s long-awaited transformation continues to take shape.

Developer John Tampa, president of Ascent Hospitality Management LLC, took possession of the historic building Jan. 6, 2016. Once renovated, the Courtyard by Marriott hotel will have at least 120 rooms. A restaurant that will be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as a Starbucks coffee shop are also planned for the facility. Ascent is committed to spending at least $14 million to renovate the 16-story building, according to Tampa.

“This is unique, because it’s a historic property,” McMahon said as he strolled through the building. “At a very basic level, I’m just documenting the condition of the structure.”

Essentially, McMahon looked at what can stay, what can be salvaged, what needs to be discarded, and what needs to be replaced in the Threefoot.

“A lot of this is not active — it’s going to have to be totally replaced,” he said. “Like the HVAC system, for instance… the electrical system as well. With it sitting here vacant for 20 years, a lot of the basic building components will need to be replaced, to even just get a basic certificate of occupancy here.”

Despite its age and condition, the building has held up remarkably well, according to McMahon.

“The building looks good — better than what I expected,” he said. “For being vacant for 20 years, and of this age…the foundation is good, the building structure itself…we don’t see buckled floors, so from a structural perspective, strictly my observations, it looks good.”

McMahon said some of the building’s holdovers from the past – such as lead-based paint and asbestos – will need to be removed as part of the Department of Environmental Quality’s permitting process.

But McMahon said he didn’t notice any indication of one environmental hazard common to some old buildings – mold.

“I don’t smell any mold – I bet the roof did a good job. I haven’t seen any indication of mold at all, which is rare.”

Once it’s been renovated, the building will keep much of its historical charm, according to a summary of proposed plans submitted by the architect to the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

The developer is waiting for the National Park Service to sign off on the project before beginning interior demolition. The entire rehabilitation is expected to take from 14 to 18 months. 

McMahon said he’s seen other historic buildings, such as the Admiral Hotel in Mobile, Ala., go through a transformation process similar to what’s in store for the Threefoot. He said the entire community will benefit from the building’s redevelopment.

“People don’t realize the financial payoffs (of this type of project) – they sometimes just want to tear it down and build something cheap in the same place,” he said. “But I think when you start looking at the charm that historic buildings bring, people like coming and spending money in these places.”

“The community, all the stakeholders involved, have got to be excited,” he added. “This is a historic building…what an exciting project.”

About The Threefoot Building

The building has dominated Meridian’s skyline since the 1930s. When completed in 1930, the 16-story building was the tallest in Mississippi. The Threefoot Building and Jackson’s Standard Life Building had the same architect, C.H. Lindsey of Jackson, along with Frank Fort of Meridian.

The Threefoot family (German immigrants who had Anglicized their name from Dreyfuss, which means three feet in German) constructed the building to house and operate its Threefoot Brothers Wholesale Company. It also housed Threefoot Realty and a number of smaller businesses, along with doctor and business offices during the 1940s-1960s.

The building is a great example of Art Deco architecture, with classic setbacks and polychrome terra cotta accenting the first-floor granite water table and the upper-floor spandrels and parapets. The building also boasts an ornamental Art Deco lobby decorated with marble flooring and wainscoting, plastered cast walls and ceilings, and etched bronze panel elevator doors with decorative dial indicators above each elevator.

The Great Depression put the Threefoot store out of business, but the building continued in operation under various owners. By the 1990s, the shift in development from downtown to suburban areas left it mostly vacant. Several redevelopment plans over the years fell through.

Since 2013, the Threefoot Preservation Society has worked to clean up the building and raise public awareness through tours and events.

It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 and designated a Mississippi Landmark in 2008. The Meridian City Council approved a final agreement for the sale of the building in October 2015.