Almost a year after damage from heavy rain led to its evacuation, the Liberty Warehouse still has a hole in the roof and its owner is overdue on plans for making repairs.

Planning Director Steve Medlin issued a notice of violation to Greenfire Development after the company failed to submit architectural plans for dealing with "deficiencies" that led to the Liberty being declared in a state of "demolition by neglect."

The plans were due April 27, according to a schedule Greenfire submitted in February. Medlin said earlier this week that, if the plans were not submitted by today, he could issue a citation and begin levying punitive fines.

Medlin said Thursday he was to meet today with Greenfire's contractor.

Liberty Warehouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is the last of more than a dozen tobacco auction houses that once operated in Durham's "Tobacco Row" just north of downtown.

In April 2011, the city condemned part of the building due to rotting in the roof and water damage. After a May 14 storm collapsed a section of roof, the entire building was condemned and the city began demolition-by-neglect proceedings. Owners of historic structures are required by Durham ordinance to keep them in sound condition.

Proceedings were postponed when Greenfire pledged to make repairs within six months, then put off another two months at the company's request. But city inspectors, touring the building Feb. 8, found exterior walls and foundations deteriorated, sagging floor and roof supports, ineffective waterproofing and numerous other faults contributing "to a hazardous or unsafe condition" in the Liberty's southern half.

Notified that it had been found guilty of demoliton by neglect, Greenfire submitted a schedule for making repairs by the end of October.

A Kentucky developer has confirmed its interest in renovating the Hill Building into a hotel – "with significant city and county assistance."

In a statement this afternoon, 21c Museum Hotels of Louisville said it had been approached by Greenfire Development, the Durham company that bought the 17-story landmark from SunTrust Bank in 2006.

According to the statement, 21c wants a $5 million public incentive and will come up with $40 million on its own for the conversion.

City Manager Tom Bonfield said an agreement with 21c is "in play."

However, in a memo to county commissioners last week, Deputy County Manager Marqueta Wilson said she had told 21c President Craig Greenberg that Durham County was "not prepared" to meet his request for $2 million. She said city officials taking part in a conference call also said they were "not prepared to offer the full amount requested."

In 2010, the city approved a $4.2 million incentive and the county $1 million for Greenfire, providing Greenfire began construction work by July 31, 2011 and completed the project by July 31, 2013. Greenfire met the first deadline by obtaining demolition permits for interior work, but has demonstrated little if any progress since then.

Bonfield said the 2010 incentives are still technically on the table, but it would be impossible for Greenfire to meet the completion deadline.
 

The notion of converting the 17-story Hill (aka SunTrust) Building downtown into a posh hotel is still alive, but has hit another stumbling block.

According to Deputy County Manager Marqueta Welton in a memo to the county commissioners, a prospective operator asked the county to raise its proffered incentive from $1 million to $2 million. Revenue projections don't warrant the increase, Welton wrote.

Greenfire Development announced today that it plans to build an 88-unit apartment complex in downtown Durham on land the company owns at the corner of Jackson and Willard streets, adjacent to the N.C. Mutual building.

Greenfire's partner on the $10 million project is Armada Hoffler, a construction firm based in Virginia Beach.

The project will also include space for a local education institution and some market-rate housing.

Construction is expected to begin in July and be completed by May 2013, the company reported in its release.

Here is a link to the Liberty Warehouse's nomination to the National Register of Historic Places:

Documents:

Greenfire Development partner Carl Webb is leaving his executive role in that company and starting a new business of his own.

Webb announced Wednesday he has formed Forty/AM, a business-consulting firm specializing in urban development. He is remaining with Greenfire as a board member, but not in the company's day-to-day operation.

He intends his new firm to serve clients throughout the Southeast U.S.

"Carl's new initiative is in step with Greenfire's mission to create opportunities for people to invest in their communities," Greenfire founder Michael Lemanski said in a prepared statement.

Webb joined Greenfire in 2006, leaving Webb/Patterson Communications, which he founded.
 

The City/County Planning Department has cancelled Thursday's public meeting on the Liberty Warehouse, following Greenfire Development's pledge to make repairs.

The meeting was scheduled in connection with a "demolition by neglect" investigation that stemmed from a roof collapse in May (above), which led to the building's condemnation.

According to a city statement, Liberty LLC — the Greenfire subsidiary that holds title to the Liberty Warehouse — has agreed, in writing, "to rectify the alleged conditions of neglect within a reasonable timeframe." The investigation has been suspended but may be reopened if repairs are not done within an approved length of time.

The Liberty Warehouse is the last of the auction houses still standing from the tobacco market that operated in Durham from 1871 through 1987, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Durham law requires owners of historic landmarks to maintain their properties. The owner of a property found to be in a state of demolition by neglect may be required to make repairs and pay civil penalties.
 

From correspondent Virginia Bridges

The Scrap Exchange plans to reopen for business today in a building across the street from its condemned location.

The nonprofit craft store and gallery is temporarily moving from its 548 Foster St. home since 2000 in the Liberty Warehouse to the building at 539 Foster St.  Executive director Ann Woodward said.  The move is the Scrap’s “right now” solution, Woodward said.  The location, which the Scrap can use for up to 30 days, allows the organization to continue to pays its employees and hold scheduled events, such as birthday parties and art workshops, Woodward says.   

The move follows the city condemning the 200,000 square foot Liberty Warehouse building after a section of roof fell during a severe thunderstorm Saturday.  The building has about 35 tenants, which includes a mix of artists, nonprofits and businesses.  The building is also used for storage.

Woodward said The Scrap Exchange plans to continue to hunt for a permanent location.

“We are just not going back,” Woodward said.  “We can’t have people come to a condemned building.”

Meanwhile, some of Liberty Warehouse’s tenants plan to blow off some steam at Durham’s Third Friday.  

The event, billed as the “Liberty Warehouse Displaced Artist and business owners refuge,” on www.thirdfridaydurham.com, will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. on Foster Street and in the foundry and pavilion at the southern end of the warehouse.  

“Seeing how our mothership has been condemned ...we will be gathering in the Liberty Arts pavilion for the sake of gathering,” the event information states.

From correspondent Virginia Bridges

The Scrap Exchange and some other businesses reopened today after part of the Liberty Warehouse roof collapsed over the weekend. But the city's housing code administrator says damage seen on an inspection today could force the city to shut the entire building down.

Early today city officials placed green condemnation signs of the southernmost section of the former tobacco auction house on Foster Street, including Liberty Arts, and other sculpture studios and businesses.

An inpsection found a section of roof blocking most of one of the bays that lets trucks make deliveries. The structural concerns, however, extended beyond that area, code administrator Rick Hester said.

“I saw rotten wood. We saw beams that were splintered, beams that were leaning,” and falling beams held up with a drain pipe and a car jack, Hester said. “What that shows us, [after] the next heavy rain,” more of the roof could fall down, he said.  

That southernmost part of the building, built in the 1930s, is clearly unsafe, Hester said.  However, the addition built in the 1940s that houses The Scrap Exchange also has broken beams and there are issues related to sprinkler and electrical systems in the entire building, he said.