By Tom Henderson • Staff Writer • 

Proposal made to replace downtown building

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Comments

Lulu

The never ending Taylor-Dale project is the most inconvenient I can recall in 30 years. Closing off Ford Street between Third and Second every half hour has resulted in total frustration when trying to negotiate downtown. And who decides when and how long to bar traffic? This might rank as the slowest construction of all time. Is the contractor being being paid by the job or the time involved?

Drew1951

Waah! Waah! Waah!

Kellie

@lulu it’s one city block.

Yeah, it’s been going on for literally years, but I hardly call a single block of closure a major inconvenience.

Nevertheless, I hope things start to move more swiftly.

gregtompkins

What they need is a skyscraper! Come on Mac go big. And why haven’t they don’t anything with the movie theater yet!? What’s it been like 38 years ago that it closed and there it sits?

Reporter Starla Pointer

gregtompkins, your numbers are a little off. The Mack Theater, built about 1941, closed in the fall of 2006.

sbagwell

Furthermore, it is privately owned.
I'm sure that city officials, downtown merchants and historic preservation advocates would love to see the theater restored and/or repurposed. And I most certainly join them in that.
However, it is owned by an out-of-town party who apparently lacks the will, the means or both, and doesn't seem inclined to sell to someone who could pull it off.
Steve

Pebbles578

What gets me is the high end restaurant and vacation rentals they're planning to put in. Another business and more "housing" that leaves the average resident out. Another reason to stop going downtown for those of us that live here and barely scrape by. The downtown area is more and more all about tourism, not community.

Lulu

The slowest construction company in history. And where will all these elite tourists park?

Treehouse

Pebbles578,
part of the challenge faced by developers willing to try and restore these very old, and very dilapidated buildings is the economic viability of any intended subsequent use. Structural, seismic, occupant safety, and utility upgrades required for these buildings have often proved economically prohibitive with any proposed use. There are no tax credits or other assistance programs available in our state to offset these economic conditions and make any less intensive proposed uses more viable.

As it is, and even with these higher priced uses proposed, it is possible that these investors will not see an economic return on their investment in their own lifetimes.

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