Christian County government officials have paused plans — at least temporarily — to demolish the Webber Building and will soon announce a plan for interested buyers to bid on the property.
It will be a two-stage bidding process, Judge-Executive Jerry Gilliam told Hoptown Chronicle following Tuesday’s regular meeting of Christian Fiscal Court.
Gilliam said the court is working with County Attorney Lincoln Foster to establish a pre-bid package intended to ensure that potential buyers are capable of making repairs needed at the historic property. Pre-bidders who provide information in the first stage that demonstrates they have the financial means and a plan to renovate the building for a desirable purpose in the downtown district will then be invited to submit a sealed bid to purchase the property.
The terms of the bidding process will be finalized within a few weeks and made public for interested buyers, said Gilliam.
An exact timeline for bidding has not been established, but Gilliam said the county wants to give potential buyers time to respond to requirements that will be spelled out in the pre-bid package.
Part of that process will address the county’s concerns that the building’s next use is appropriate for the location on Weber Street, said Gilliam.
Constructed in 1839 and believed to be one of the last remaining structures still standing downtown that was built before the Civil War, the Webber Building has been vacant for a couple of years. Most recently it housed the county treasurer’s office. The county has owned the building since 1968.
Magistrates voted unanimously at their July 22 meeting to declare the Webber Building as surplus property with the intent of demolishing the building. Gilliam said the building’s condition was “truly a safety issue” and cited an April 22 report from Hopkinsville Fire Department code enforcement officer Mark DeArmond, who said his office had “condemned this structure until all life safety concerns are addressed or the structure is demolished.”
At the July 22 fiscal court meeting, many residents interested in historic preservation, especially in the downtown district, were just beginning to learn about the county’s plans to raze the Webber Building. Gilliam said that demolishing the building would provide additional parking spaces “needed in downtown.”
Since that meeting, several opponents of demolishing the Webber Building have contacted county officials and some have toured the building to make their own assessment of its condition. Several people on both sides of the issue have also written letters to editor of Hoptown Chronicle about the Webber Building.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Tammie VanBuren addressed the court during public comments and asked county officials to take steps to ensure that the Webber Building is not demolished.
Speaking on behalf of the nonprofit group Hopkinsville Historic Community, VanBuren urged Gilliam and the eight magistrates to “exert real effort, creativity and patience in finding an owner for the Webber building who will serve as a steward of this community treasure.”
VanBuren is treasurer of the group whose members reside in the Anvirdale and Mt. Pleasant historic districts.
“In just the past two years, Hopkinsville has lost so much of its historic landscape,” VanBuren said in remarks prepared for the fiscal court meeting. “The Phoenix, Tiger Stadium, the Ellis Ice House, just to name a few. We are in danger of becoming a community with no tangible ties to its past. The Webber Building must not join this list. This destruction has to stop while we still have something left. Downtown Hopkinsville doesn’t need another parking lot. What it needs is a conscious effort to preserve what’s left of its historic landscape.”
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Following Tuesday’s meeting, Gilliam said the court wants to ensure that a buyer will maintain the “building’s integrity” and that plans for any business or use of the building are appropriate for the area.
The county has an interest in making sure the Webber Building’s next use works well with its neighbors, said Gilliam, noting that it is located within county government’s downtown “campus.“ It sits between the courthouse and parking lots, and it is near the newly established judge-executive’s office building (formerly a district court building) at Seventh and Bethel streets.
The Webber Building is also visible from Main Street, which means tearing it down would result in a noticeable change to the historic streetscape surrounding the courthouse.
VanBuren, who lives in a South Main Street home built around 1913, recently toured the Webber Building with several others interested in preservation. They included John and Jeri Lynn Richardson, residents of the Trice Castle on South Main Street, Grace and Brendan Abernethy, who are preserving an East Seventh Street house that is the subject of the Brick & Mortar Monthly series in Hoptown Chronicle, and Alissa Keller, executive director of the Museums of Historic Hopkinsville-Christian County and a resident of Anvirdale Historic District.
The group went into the Webber Building basement, an area of concern cited in the code enforcement officer’s report. Because all of them currently live in historic properties, they were not surprised or overly concerned about the condition of the basement, said VanBuren.
Four support beams with termite damage would need to be replaced, they believe. But the condition of the basement and the building overall does not appear to warrant demolition, VanBuren said her group believed after touring the building.
The Hopkinsville Historic Community plans to have a structural engineer look at the building to give them advice on what it would cost to address any problems in the building.
VanBuren said they will have to wait for more information before they proceed, but she said fiscal court’s willingness to open up a bid process is a reason to be hopeful about saving the Webber Building.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
