From the Press-Register
RSA project has foot in two centuries
Gleaming new tower not considered part of Lower Dauphin Historic District, but restored adjacent Battle House Hotel is -- as is half the connector building linking the two Sunday, April 29, 2007By KATHY JUMPERReal Estate Editor
When it comes to downtown Mobile, even when something's new, it could still be historic.
The circa 1909 Battle House Hotel is in the Lower Dauphin Historic District, and the adjacent brand-new, 35-story glass and steel RSA Battle House Tower is not, according to the Mobile Historic Development Commission.
The 4½-year, $200 million project funded by the Retirement Systems of Alabama blends one of the city's oldest hotels with the state's tallest building. Half of the new connector building linking the two buildings is in the historic district, so it is considered historic.
Members of the city's Architectural Review Board said that, early on, RSA and the board struck a balance and have had a good working relationship.
RSA bought the vacant, 1836 Coley building on St. Francis Street, at the rear of the Battle House, in 2002. It was one of the parcels to be used for the project's nine-story parking deck. The two-story commercial building was listed as one of 11 buildings or sites in the state as Places in Peril in 2002 by the Alabama Historical Commission and Alabama Preservation Alliance in Montgomery.
RSA said that it would dismantle the building and re-erect the Coley building's cast-iron and brick facade (which had been changed in 1870) as part of the parking garage project. "We didn't want them to dismantle it at all, but that was a fight we weren't going to win," said Bunky Ralph, chairman of the review board. "They came to us and asked us," to approve the plan, which the board did.
RSA spent almost half a million to take the building down brick by brick and restore the facade, according to Al St. Clair, now director of the Alabama Cruise Terminal, who worked with the city to bring the RSA project here.
"It makes the garage in the historic district, but they have made some exceptions because of the signage on Water Street," St. Clair said. The review board, he added, was "very cooperative and tried hard to make this work."
Review board member Tilmon Brown, a local builder, was glad to see RSA rebuild Coley's facade. "From my standpoint, Mobilians have destroyed enough buildings downtown," said Brown, who has renovated several buildings downtown, including the St. Emanuel Place loft apartments at 127 Dauphin St., which open this week.
The lighting, landscaping and the signage on the RSA tower had to blend with the historic integrity of the Battle House, according to the review board.
"Even though you are dealing with a new modern structure, you want everything to complement the historic Battle House," said John Lawler, a city attorney who oversees the board. "You want to try to make it a little more conservative rather than the garish way it was treated on Airport Boulevard."
RSA also in essence rebuilt the 238-room Battle House, according to David Bronner, chief of RSA, the state's $28 billion pension funds. Much of the flooring and interiors were trashed or destroyed, and had to be redone or replicated, he said.
"That's what you get into when you do a restoration," he said.
/cut/2/cPhotos by BILL STARLING/Staff PhotographerAerial shots show the RSA Battle House Tower on March 22 and the tower's crown April 13.
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