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Fellow Historic Preservationists:

As many of you know the City of Villa Rica has a 1951 International Style building known as the Old Library or Old Clinic. It predates the 1956 National Register Listed Douglas County Courthouse in Douglasville just 10 or so miles east. The Old Library is National Register eligible and in the proposed NR district I have worked on. This structure has appeared in Georgia DOCOMOMO, Kennesaw’s Threatened Sites, and published myself several times locally of which one version is attached below this plea.

Several times this structure has been threatened with demolition. I did a parking survey for three different years in 2003, 2005, and 2006 demonstrating that only 30% of downtown parking is utilized at any average moment. To this Council Woody Holland says there is a need for more parking and the historic building should be torn down. Councilman/Mayor Pro Tem Verland Best said in the paper “In my opinion , the day the health department moved into their new facility, the next morning at 7 AM we back the dump trucks in and we take both (the health department ant eh fire department buildings down the same day.” The old fire department is not a historic building and is in poor shape.

Today I picked up this week’s Villa Rican, the local weekly paper that regularly does publish my commentary on history and historic preservation, to find that the City council is now considering demolishing this building. “Other members of council said the first priority is to get the building torn down. Once that ’s complete they said a decision can be made as to what to do with the building.” This is irresponsible for a town that is hoping to become a Main Street town in February. Furthermore, the headline above the story states how construction on the parking spaces along the railroad will provide 90 new spaces. I designed the concept drawings for this and had 80 so I guess they found 10 more spaces.

You can see the original article, along with some history and historical importance of the Old Library here: http://highlands.edu/academics/divisions/socialcultural/history/eblevins/oldlibrary.html

I submitted three years ago a historic preservation ordinance that would address this, only now is the new city manger looking at it, but it would be doubtful if it would pass in time to prevent the demolition of the building.

I request anyone on this list to please help me educate the city. Please contact Mayor Jay Collins at jaycollins@bellsouth.net and council members Verland Best (Ward 2, Mayor Pro Tem) at vbest@villarica.org, Danny Carter (Ward 1) at dcarter@villarica.org, Perry Amidon (Ward 3) at pamidon@villarica.org; Joseph Kelly (Ward 4) jkelley@villarica.org, and Woody Holland (Ward 5) wholland@villarica.org. The city manger is Danny Mabry at dmabry@villarica.org. It might also be beneficial to contact Barbara Daniell who is the Tourism/Downtown Development Manager at bdaniell@villarica.org.

In addition, the City of Villa Rica has been in the process of applying for Main Street status. I am submitting my letter rescinding my original letter of recommendation and support in light of this article and the quotes in it. I do not feel that the City has a the Historic Preservation ethic which it did when I wrote it which included a belief that there was consideration for saving the Old Library.

Also please encourage the Historic Preservation Committee of the Downtown Development Authority to speak out against this. At this time all but me do not think it this building is valuable – even though some are related to the original owner. The committee, including myself, can be sent a message:

Ernest Everett Blevins at blevins@alumni.cofc.edu
Barbara Daniell at bdaniell@villarica.org (although she is a member of the City staff and will not be able to officially make any comment it will be useful for her to know)
Patricia Proctor at PProctor45@hotmail.com
Valarie Wilhelm at valeriewilhelm@hotmail.com

I feel that if the Historic Preservation Committee does not speak out on this building being demolished then they should consider ceasing operation. The next meeting of the committee is at 2:00 PM on 5 February 2007 at City Hall , 571 West Bankhead Highway, Villa Rica, Georgia 30810.

The next city council meeting will be 6 February 2006 in the Courtroom on Main Street, Villa Rica.

If possible, please carbon copy me at blevins@alumni.cofc.edu so that I can know the response and can point it out to the council and press.

Thank you for your attention to this. Please forward widely.

Ernie

–
Ernest Everett Blevins, MFA
Blevins Historical Research
110 Evergreen Way
Villa Rica, Georgia 30180
770-456-1876
http://blevinshistoricalresearch.com

Historic Preservation Consultant — Historical and Architectural Research — Genealogical (Family) Research — Preservation Planning and Documentation — House History

Member: Association of Professional Genealogists, Georgia Association of Professional Genealogists, Ambassador of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, Historian: Casimir Pulaski SAR, Registrar: Georgia Society of Founders & Patriots, and member of numerous other lineage and heritage societies.

Condo projects hit delays
Atlanta Business Chronicle – December 8, 2006
by Lisa R. Schoolcraft and Jill Lerner
Staff Writers

Several high-profile condominium projects in metro Atlanta are being delayed or canceled because of a softening market and increasing construction costs.

Cousins Properties Inc. has delayed its Fox Plaza project — for which the developer in September imploded the Wachovia building at Peachtree Street and North Avenue — for at least four to six months, said Matt Gove, spokesman for Cousins (NYSE: CUZ). The project, a proposed mix of office, hotel and condo towers, was supposed to begin construction by the end of 2006.

Delays also are affecting The St. Regis in Buckhead, a mix of hotel rooms and condos, and The Astoria at The Aramore, a 71-unit condo project at 2233 Peachtree Road.

The St. Regis now is expected to be completed Nov. 16, 2008, rather than the first half of 2008. The Astoria plans to start construction Feb. 1 rather than by the end of 2006, said Jack Williams, business director of Kairos Development Corp.

A surge in condominium construction in the past few years in metro Atlanta, plus a slowdown in the broader housing market, has made some lenders hesitant about providing financing for new condominium construction. In addition, rising construction costs are complicating financing models.
“Going forward, it will be more difficult to do [condo] projects for a period of time,” said Williams. “Construction pricing is more volatile and [financing is] more difficult to obtain.”

At the middle of 2006, developers had proposed 13,603 new condo units for metro Atlanta, a 43.8 percent increase from a year earlier, said David Haddow, president of Haddow & Co., which tracks the Atlanta housing market.

At mid-year 2006, 5,818 condo units were under construction, compared with 3,945 during the same time in 2005, he said, for a 47.5 percent increase.

“And what has happened to demand?” he said. “It has slowed down, so that is a source of concern.”

That has led some developers to reassess their plans.

Novare Group Inc., one of the most prolific condo developers in Atlanta, announced earlier this year it was pushing back the start date of The Roxy in Buckhead.

Yet another high-profile project remains on schedule, for now. Trump Towers Atlanta is still expecting to start sometime between March and May, said Mark Randall, director of Wood Partners LLC, which is in a joint venture with Donald Trump and Dezer Properties Inc. to build the double tower project at 15th and West Peachtree streets in Midtown. The 47-story first phase will consist of 365 units, with prices from the high $400,000s to more than $1 million. It is expected to be completed by early 2009.

One developer has dropped the condo portion of his hotel/condo project altogether, banking instead on a stronger hotel market.
Hotel Palomar, originally a 230-room hotel with 38 $1 million condos atop it at 866 West Peachtree St., has ditched the condos for 70 more hotel rooms, said Beau King, president of Kim King Associates LLC, which is developing the $100 million project with San Francisco-based Kimpton Hotels & Restaurant Group LLC and Atlanta’s Gulch Ventures LLC.
“There’s a huge demand for hotel rooms in Midtown and we wanted to maximize our hotel rooms,” he said.

King said he’d rather build hotels for $215 a night rather than condos for $650 per square foot. “There is tremendous competition for condos in the $1 million market right now,” he said.

Cousins’ Gove said The Premiere at Fox Plaza, a 30-story, 210-unit high-rise condo tower, is expected to be the first part of the project started.

But rising construction costs, a slowing condo market and increased interest from commercial users for one piece of Fox Plaza have stalled the condo, which will sit at Juniper Street and Ponce de Leon Avenue, he said.
Because of the added site interest, Cousins wants to file a new development plan with state agencies, delaying the project start at least four months.

Construction costs have risen about 10 percent to 15 percent overall during the past year, said Bill Bland, senior vice president with Choate Construction Co.

The increase in construction pricing is across the board, Bland said, but one of the main factors that can add costs to condo projects is the increasing risk in the form of class-action lawsuits filed by homeowner associations.
In order to minimize their risk, many of the trade contractors will not pursue multifamily “for sale” projects, he said. This in turn limits competition and drives up prices.

The St. Regis in Buckhead is one of the projects that have been affected by rising construction costs. The St. Regis, on West Paces Ferry, is planned to have 150 hotel rooms and 50 condos, 44 now under contract.
“We did have to pause to get our construction costs in line, but we were able to revise our schedule,” said Jay Jacob, development director of SR Hotel Development LLLP.