Written by
Kala Kachmar
While redevelopment at 78 Dexter Ave. is progressing, some residents say it’s not progressing as planned.
More than a year ago, the city of Montgomery sold the property on the corner of South Perry Street and Dexter Avenue for less than the city paid for it so it could be redeveloped. But as the redevelopment has taken shape, there have been complaints that an external staircase built on the Dexter Avenue side — a feature that was not in the original plans — has compromised both the building’s appearance and its historic character.
Although none of the nine Dexter Avenue properties the city purchased to resell at a lower price to boost economic development are officially designated as historic, provisions in the purchase and rehabilitation agreements call for the historic “character” of the buildings to be preserved.
Dexter Avenue, known for being the home of Martin Luther King’s church and the location from which the telegram that started the Civil War was sent, was once a vibrant street full of hustle, bustle and economic growth. And city officials hope the redevelopment plan will make it that way again.
In 2010, the city started sending out requests for proposals for the Lower Dexter Avenue District properties. In February 2011, Luis Rubio, a civil engineer from Colombia who moved to Montgomery in 2009, purchased 78 Dexter Ave. for $60,000. His intent was to create a space fit for a restaurant, and he has spent about $1 million on the project so far.
Rubio has been working with Phillip Pouncey Builder, a local development company, on restoring the building. The original rendering of what the building was supposed to look like showed a staircase coming off the balcony on the South Perry Street side facing south, parallel to the building. But a less-than-subtle staircase that was actually built, which juts out onto the sidewalk at the front of the building facing east, has residents almost as distressed as the property used to be.
Deputy Mayor Jeff Downes said city safety codes required the staircase be built, but said it could have been built inside the building.
An interior staircase would have taken up a significant amount of square footage on the first and second floors of the building, he said.
“Sometimes the codes and use by the tenant do affect the aesthetics and the architectural elements of a particular project,” Downes said. “That’s really what has driven the placement of those stairs.”
Phillip Pouncey, president of the company, said the staircase still needs to be painted and cemented, but most of the exterior work is completed.
He said the fire-escape staircase on the South Perry Street side still needs to be built, but it will not be built off the balcony — as shown in the original rendering — because of building codes.
In March, the City Council approved an agreement that allowed Rubio to build the staircase and a balcony that encroaches on the public right-of-way, which in this case, is the sidewalk.
Some fear exception could be precedent
Montgomery resident Jim Yeaman, who was chairman of the city’s Historic Development Commission in the 1980s, said the staircase shows that the city needs some vehicle to make sure there is consistent and impartial review of redevelopments.
“The original plan drew a lot of praise,” Yeaman said. “But the execution of the plan has not made many people happy. It doesn’t maintain the integrity of the entire area down there. It looks like it ought to be in a strip mall somewhere.”
Yeaman said he’s worried that allowing the staircase in the name of hurrying economic development sets a bad precedent for the redevelopment of other Dexter Avenue buildings. He said the city is still dealing with the misdirected urban renewal that took place in the 1970s, when historic buildings were torn down and façades were updated to make the downtown more attractive.
“If this is the precedent for the rest of development of lower Dexter, this might end up like a carnival midway,” Yeaman said.
Brandon Brazil, who is in charge of reviewing historic structures for the Alabama Department of Transportation and is a member of Montgomery’s Architectural Review Board, said he’s disappointed that the city didn’t adhere to the provisions to preserve the historic character of the building, as stipulated in the purchase and sale agreement between the city and the owner.
“It seems like it would have been avoidable if there were good plans for the buildings from the start,” Brazil said. “There’s just no precedent to plop a staircase off a balcony in an urban area.”
Preserving historic character
The purchase and sale agreement, approved by the City Council on Feb. 15, 2011, says the property is “of historical value and should be rehabilitated, restored and refurbished.”
The agreement refers to three documents the buyer is obligated to adhere to: the United States Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation, a list of protective covenants for the building and a rehabilitation agreement.
All three documents stipulate provisions that require the owner to maintain historically and architecturally significant features, preserve the historic character and keep the building as authentic as possible while still providing modern conveniences.
Downes said he and Mayor Todd Strange have been working closely with the developer on monitoring the restoration of the building. The mayor is the “ultimate arbiter” in making decisions related to the redevelopment of the building, but code review is done by the planning and building departments, Downes said.
“Architecturally, it’s in the eye of the beholder,” Strange said. “From a standpoint of life safety and code violations, everything is fine. At the end of the day, it’s a private person that owns a business.”
Pouncey said it wasn’t his choice to build the staircase outside, but it wasn’t economically feasible to put it inside.
“Preservation can be keeping a building from being torn down,” Downes said. “Every architectural element is not addressed in our agreement. A lot of it is based on use. Our desire is to preserve as much of the character as we can, while bringing vitality back to lower Dexter Avenue.”
Building had been eyesore
Pouncey said the building sat vacant for more than 30 years and looked terrible with bricks that were covered with stucco and garbage.
He said the company is working hard to make the building’s look as closely as it can to what the building originally looked like in 1910.
The tenant, which will likely be announced in June, will do more build-out once the interior design plans are approved by the city and the health department, Pouncey said.
He said he expects the restaurant to be open in August.
Downes said the city will continue to require businesses meet all safety codes, but there needs to be some flexibility in other areas or that put “at risk any further development along lower Dexter Avenue.”
“We do care about the architecture and aesthetics of a project. We but we have to look at all variables in the review of projects,” Downes said.
from Montgomery Advertiser
http://on.mgmadv.com/L38bSn
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