Preservation Durham has dropped its opposition to removing the Liberty Warehouse’s Local Historic Landmark designation after reaching agreements with the building’s owner and prospective buyer.

The City Council is due to vote on removal at its meeting tonight.

According to Preservation Durham Executive Director Wendy Hillis, Liberty owner Greenfire Developer and East-West Partners, a Chapel Hill firm which has a contract to buy the warehouse, have agreed to address several preservationists’ concerns:

• Integrating the existing southern brick wall into the redevelopment plans by preserving the Foundry, Central Park mural and wall, but making strategic penetrations to allow for enhanced public connectivity and programming in Central Park.
• Incorporating of the northeast brick façade and LIBERTY sign into the redevelopment plans.
• Reusing old wood from the warehouse within the redevelopment and recycling that which is not reused onsite.
• Memorializing and documenting the Liberty Warehouse and the tobacco-auction business in Durham, either through an outdoor public exhibit or a dedicated museum space.
• Using architectural forms and materials that contextually relate to the surrounding area.
• A continued dialogue with Preservation Durham around the development of Liberty Warehouse that will include regular communication and meetings as the project proceeds towards construction.    
• Should East-West Partners not become involved in the Liberty’s redevelopment, Greenfire Development is committed to these same criteria.

Hillis and Preservation Durham President Josh Park negotiated the commitments with Greenfire Managing Partner Paul Smith and East-West principals Roger Perry and Bryson Powell.

“We have always recognized that Liberty Warehouse would be a difficult building to rehabilitate,” Hillis said in a prepared statement.

“Our concern has been that any redevelopment project intelligently assess the historic importance of the site and ensure that any new construction is appropriate within the industrial context of the neighborhood.”

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.

Planning Director Steve Medlin has declared Liberty Warehouse "in a condition of neglect" and ordered Greenfire Development to make repairs or face fines of $500 a day.

Medlin announced his decision today in a letter to Greenfire Managing Partner Paul Smith. It culminates a city investigation begun after the historic tobacco warehouse's roof collapsed in a heavy rainstorm last spring.

Medlin's letter requires Greenfire, which owns the building through its subsidiary Durham Liberty LLC, to develop a work plan and schedule in consultation with the City-County Planning Department by Feb. 29, and complete repairs by Oct. 15.

"Thank you, Jesus," said Debbie Pratt, a former Liberty tenant who was forced to quickly move a large art collection when the roof collapse led to the building's condemnation.

Smith was not immediately available for comment.

Fines begin if the company fails to comply with the deadlines. Noncompliance could also cost Greenfire the warehouse's "local historic landmark" designation and the associated property-tax benefit.

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."

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.
 

The City-County Planning Department is investigating "demolition by neglect" in the case of Liberty Warehouse, and invites public comment at a June 16 meeting.

The meeting is at City Hall, starting at 5:30 p.m. Any interested parties may attend and provide information.

Liberty Warehouse, on Rigsbee Avenue, has been condemned since a section of its roof collapsed in May. Greenfire Development owns the former tobacco auction house and rented space there to a number of nonprofit agencies that have had to seek new quarters.

It is the last of more than a dozen tobacco auction houses that once operated in the area just north of downtown.

A determination in the demolition-by-neglect matter will be made by June 30. For information, contact Sara Young at 560-4137, ext. 28256 or sara.young@durhamnc.gov.
 

Supporters are rallying around The Scrap Exchange and the Liberty Arts Foundry, two nonprofits among the artists and businesses displaced from their Liberty Warehouse location after a partial roof collapse and the condemning of the building.

To help the nonprofits move to their new location at 923 Franklin St. near the Golden Belt complex, supporters will hold a day-long benefit show, Save the Scrap at Casbah this Saturday, June 4, from 1 p.m, to 1 a.m., according to the the Durham Convention and Visitors Bureau. The Scrap will open that same day in its new spot.

Save the Scrap will feature (at least) 10 hours of music by 10-plus bands for 10 bucks. The lineup includes Rainbow Nerd, Durham Ukulele Orchestra, The Pnuerotics, Midtown Dickens, Mary Johnson Rockers, Phil Cook & His Feat, LiLa, Hindugrass, Sara Bell, JKuchma and Thee Dirtybeats

All of the money will go towards the Liberty Arts Foundry and to the Scrap Exchange. Additionally, Casbah will be hosting an Artist Market featuring the work of local artists, artisans and friends of the Liberty Warehouse tenants. The Scrap Exchange will be on site with a hands-on make and take, silk screening Save the Scrap on apparel provided by attendees. Attendees are encouraged to bring an extra shirt!

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.