The historic L&N Freight Station on East Ninth Street will likely remain a storage facility following an auction to sale the property.
Two Hopkinsville men who own construction-related businesses partnered to secure the high bid during the auction Friday afternoon. Blake Ladson and Maurice Jesse had the winning bid of $165,000. Bolinger Real Estate and Auction conducted the auction.
Ladson owns Legacy Construction and Roofing. Jesse owns Home Painting Solutions and Flooring.
Ladson told Hoptown Chronicle that they will use the property for storage of construction material and possibly for an event center at some point.
Several onlookers attended the auction to see if it would go to someone with plans for a major restoration project that would lead to a more public operation, such as a retail or food business. That does not appear likely in the near future.
The Hopkinsville Water Environment Authority had been using the freight station for storage. But the utility no longer needed the space and decided to sell it, HWEA general manager Derrick Watson, previously told Hoptown Chronicle.
HWEA bought the freight station in December 2006 from Ronald Dannelly, of Bradshaw Road, for $105,000, according to a deed record at the Christian County Clerk’s Office. Dannelly had purchased the property in January 1998 from Hayden, Henderson and Moorefield Lumber Co., for $65,000.
Constructed in 1905, the site operated as a freight station until around 1966, when it was sold to Henderson Lumber.
The office portion of the freight station, a two-story brick structure that faces East Ninth Street, has 6,500 square feet, and the one-story warehouse portion has about 9,500 square feet.
The new owners won’t face any significant restrictions on changes to the property — unless they were to participate in the city’s downtown revitalization incentives. There are currently no local ordinances to regulate changes or renovations to the historic nature of older properties in Hopkinsville’s downtown district. Historic preservation regulations in downtown apply only to properties where the owners receive city financial incentives, said Downtown Renaissance Director Holly Boggess.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. She spent 30 years as a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition.
