Jack Meeks said he’s tired of seeing historic buildings being torn down.
So, when he found out recently about a former Downtown boarding house potentially being next in line for demolition, he asked for the process to slow down a bit.
The Downtown Investment Authority felt the same way and reached out to City Council to hold off on a landmark designation bill committees in past weeks had voted down.
Council complied Tuesday, putting the issue back to committees and at least delaying the possibility the Elena Flats building at 122 E. Duval St. could be torn down.
The owner of the building has applied to the city for a demolition permit, but the Historic Preservation Commission denied it. At the council level, though, the Land Use and Zoning Committee voted down the landmark designation, opening up the possibility of the building being torn down should it have passed Tuesday.
Meeks, a DIA board member, wants to talk to the owner first to see about purchasing the building. If that happens, he said he and his wife would return it to its original use as apartments.
“We’re used to dealing with old buildings like that,” he said. “Situations like these, they’re love projects.”
Meeks has undertaken several rehabilitation projects on old homes in Springfield.
He has yet to connect with the building’s owner, but said he would try again today to see what it would take to purchase. In terms of what he’s willing to spend, Meeks said he didn’t have a budget but it would be “a lot.”
“If we do it, it’ll be whatever it takes,” he said. “Obviously, it can be a beautiful building.”
Meeks’ contractor took a look at the outside of the building Tuesday and reported that nothing “scared him” about what he saw. But without seeing the inside, Meeks said he doesn’t have a sense of what it would take.
With council’s vote, the bill is back with the land use committee, buying Meeks and others at least a couple of weeks to pursue saving the former boarding house.
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