By Scott Unger • Of the News-Register • 

Downtown demolition decision poised for Thursday

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Comments

Easy Writer

The residents in opposition to the demolition seem to be confused and think we live in "McMayberry." Those buildings are useless without millions of dollars spent to upgrade and make it safe. It's Jeb Bladine's building. If he wants to sell it so it can be knocked down, let him do it! If people want to preserve the building, then they can come up with the money it'll take to maintain its safety and historical charm.

BigfootLives

If its an ugly utilitarian building with its only reason for being listed by the McMinnville Historic Downtown District the year it was built, why was it listed in the first place?

On Nov 3rd the NR ran an article about a rental property on SE Davis that the owner wanted to drop the historical ranking of "significant resource" to keep her from continually having to apply for permits with the Historical Landmarks Committee for maintenance and repairs. Many thought her request made sense given the many renovations over the years that left the home with little resemblance of a historic landmark, and she was trying to keep an affordable rental home on the market at an affordable price point. Her request was voted on by the committee and she lost the vote 3-1, with committee member Christopher Knapp stating "if you had the means you could pretty easily turn it back into a beautiful, beautiful structure."

https://newsregister.com/article?articleTitle=preserve-history-or-provide-housing--1667519610--44575--

Jeb, if you dump enough money into those buildings, they will be beautiful, beautiful structures.

Jean

Sounds like a good project. Let's go! Demo time!

WV.AVAs

There's nothing remotely charming about the old NR building. A new building designed to tie in with the better local architecture would be a massive improvement.
Go for it!

GreggR

My Step-Father was Richard Bennette. I spent 1000s of hours working in the Bennette building working on cars. It was also my job to do building maintenance like repairing the roof and painting. So I know that building well. I do not know if there has been any structural reinforcement done, but way back in the 60s and 70s it was a risky building for earthquakes.

My fond memories of working in a family business for many years wishes it could stay. I will be a bit sad if it comes down. But the reality is that building was great for a small car dealership ( and tractors before that), but it is not great for the modern times.

Living away from McMinnville now, but going there often, I really don't know if McMinnville is ready for the proposed use for that property. It does feel like it might take away from the small town feel. The present building has good memories for some of us involved, but it is not suited for continued use.

DB Cooper

Personally I think it would be a gross overreach if the Historic Landmarks Committee ruled that these buildings must be preservered. Many residents don't really love the idea of this hotel, however no one can seriously say that these structures hold any real historical value aside from them being present in the downtown area and being somewhat old. On top of that, it is economically unviable for renovation to take place. So it is either the bulldozer, or these buildings sit in their current state.

Is it not the case that in 40-50 years McMinnville residents will start to see this hotel as a historic landmark? It would certainly project the image of economic viability and prosperity to the downtown area better than a trio of utility buildings built a hundred years ago.

Db

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