Staff Writer
The wrecking ball came threateningly close to swinging into the building at 432 E. Monroe St., but two lawyers decided to save it and turn it into law offices and expand the legal community’s presence Downtown.
Neither will claim divine intervention had a hand in their partnership, but lawyers Tad Delegal and Mike Edwards attend the same church and it was there they first talked about remodeling the building. It was the former office of longtime real estate appraiser Jerry Simon, who passed away last year.
Delegal bought the property in March 2009 and then heard that Edwards would be moving from the office he was renting. He approached Edwards about partnering in the remodeling. They had two choices, remodel or demolish the house that had been rebuilt after the Great Fire of 1901.
“Shortly after I bought the place I was driving down Philips Highway and it seemed like every building had a sign ‘For Lease’ or ‘For Rent’ in front of it,” said Delegal. “And I thought, ‘What am I doing?’ But I felt like it was a good opportunity.”
Delegal can make the previous statement with more conviction now that the remodeling has allowed three lawyers, Edwards, Michael Basford and Doug Oberdorfer, to set up their practices in the building. The repairs took about eight months.
Before the tenants moved in, the building was tented to kill all the termites feasting on the building’s wooden structure, the roof was replaced, the plywood that separated the building into first and second-floor offices was removed, a majority of the flooring on the first level was replaced, the sagging front porch was remodeled, a handicap ramp was installed and a steel and cement set of stairs were installed to provide adequate fire escape for the second floor.
Remodeling costs to date for the project are about $150,000 for the eight-room, two-bath building.
“I like old houses and old things. I still have my first car, a 1957 Chevy Bel Air,” said Edwards. “I thought this place had a lot of potential. I enjoy working here. It’s almost like working at home.”
Edwards has enjoyed discovering the character of the building and what it contains, from the boot locker that also serves as a bench at the foot of the stairs, to the claw foot bathtubs that were in the bathrooms, to the sliding glass doors that allow entrance into his office that make him feel like he’s in a “goldfish bowl.”
“I was going to make the glass frosty, so I wouldn’t be working in a goldfish bowl,” said Edwards. “But the more I looked at the glass, and how it is beveled, the more I didn’t want to mess them up.”
The adventure of remodeling hasn’t been all fun, though.
“I didn’t think we were going to have the the cost we did, replacing a third of the downstairs,” said Edwards. “In the long term, it’s a good investment.”
With the remodeling, the entire block of East Monroe Street between Washington and Liberty streets is filled with law offices. Across the street are more law offices and bail bonds businesses.
356-2466