Building a deal|City, downtown owners head back to table
Published 12:00 am Sunday, December 13, 2009
With an 18-month court-approved agreement set to expire Wednesday, city officials are preparing to go back to the negotiating table with a company responsible for clearing the site of two Clay Street buildings that collapsed nearly four years ago.
See Below for timeline.
City Attorney Lee Davis Thames Jr. said he and Buildings and Inspections Director Victor Gray-Lewis were scheduled to meet with Bill Greenwood, owner of Antique Wood and Brick Company of Mississippi, last week, but Greenwood had to reschedule for this coming week. Without the use of heavy machinery, Greenwood’s company has been removing debris and brick at the collapse site piece-by-piece since shortly after Circuit Judge Isadore Patrick approved an agreement between building owners and city officials in June 2008. According to the agreement, Antique Wood and Brick Company was given 18 months to complete debris removal, backfill the vacant lot to sidewalk level and provide drainage.
“Everything is contingent on our meeting with Bill to find out how much time he thinks he needs to complete the work, but at this point we’re inclined to give him an extension,” said Thames. “He has exhibited that he’s been steadily working on the property, but nothing is official yet.”
The 140-year-old structures at 707-713 Clay St. collapsed at 11:15 a.m. on Jan. 25, 2006. After hearing creaking noises, 23 workers who were rehabbing the buildings for owners Preston and Mary Reuther escaped the uninjured minutes before bricks came tumbling down.
The collapse set off two years of legal wrangling between the Reuthers and the city over whether the historic properties would be stabilized and rebuilt or torn down. Former Mayor Laurence Leyens was adamant about having the buildings stabilized and restored, while the Reuthers maintained removing the buildings was the most economical solution.
Gray-Lewis said he’s been pleased with the progress that’s been made at the collapse site by Greenwood’s company over the past 18 months, and added he’ll recommend an extension be granted. While Greenwood’s crew has dismantled the buildings down to street level, there is still a considerable amount of brick and debris to be cleared.
“I would have been surprised if they could have gotten it done in the 18 months. There’s just a lot of brick and debris there, and they have literally had to remove it piece-by-piece,” he said. “I think it would be in the city’s best interest to approve an extension.”
Gray-Lewis said Greenwood has confirmed he is working on a formal letter requesting an extension. However, Greenwood has not yet conveyed to the city how much time he believes is still needed to complete the work. Greenwood did not return calls for comment.
“We should have that letter by the 21st,” said Gray-Lewis, noting the mayor and aldermen are scheduled to meet on the 21st and could vote to approve an extension at that time.
“I would be inclined to give them the extension,” said Mayor Paul Winfield. “Of course, we’ll have to discuss it as a board and see what all of our options are, but at this point I think we just need to get the work done as soon as possible. It’s been going on long enough.”
If the mayor and aldermen decide against granting an extension, Thames said they would be left little choice but to file a contempt of court suit against Greenwood and begin the process of finding another avenue to get the work completed.
“But I don’t think that’s how we want to play this thing if we don’t have to,” Thames said.
Any extension would have to be approved in circuit court, but Thames said it likely would be OK’d without a formal hearing. If an extension is agreed upon, Gray-Lewis said he hoped work would not have to be halted between Wednesday and the point at which the extension was approved by the court.
Ownership of the collapsed buildings remains uncertain. In October 2005, the property was sold for $230,000 to the Reuthers, who had come to Vicksburg from New Orleans with plans of purchasing historic properties and rehabbing them. Following their repeated dust-ups with the city over the fate of the collapsed buildings, the Reuthers left Vicksburg several years ago.
Courthouse records show the properties were transferred in August from the Reuthers to Downtown Vicksburg Investments LLC, headed by Jackson law firm Stubblefield & Yelverton. Attorney Ralph Yelverton declined to discuss the properties at length, but said the firm is merely the listed agent for the properties and added the previous owners are no longer clients. Thames said he was unsure of ownership, but believes Greenwood might have acquired the properties.
Meanwhile, a sale this fall on the properties’ unpaid taxes received a bid from Prisock Properties in Lauderdale County on its $1,439.58 tax liability from 2007 and 2008. If the taxes remain unpaid after three years, ownership can then be transferred to the tax sale bidder.
Preservationists believe the collapsed buildings date to the 1860s. In the opening decades of the 20th century, they anchored what was known as the “Hoffman Block,” a moniker attributed to Louis Hoffman, who operated Hoffman Hardware there from 1877 to 1917. The buildings housed O’Neill-McNamara Hardware from 1918 to 1958.
The 1960s saw four different businesses — Haden Hardware, Vicksburg Finance Co., Michaeleen’s Hair Styling Salon and Bella’s Hess Catalog Store — occupy the buildings. City directories show the addresses being vacant from 1970 to 1972. In 1973, the property was purchased by Bertha and Charles Haik, who operated Thomas Furniture Store there for 30 years until their son, Stephen, moved it to Washington and then Drummond streets.
Timeline
Since the collapse of two buildings in the 700 block of Clay Street:
• Jan. 25, 2006: Two buildings at 707-713 Clay St., in the process of being rehabbed, collapse at 11:15 a.m. Twenty-three workers inside the buildings minutes before the collapse escape uninjured. Owners Preston and Mary Reuther, who purchased the buildings in 2005 for $230,000, said the buildings were insured and would be rebuilt.
• March 2006: City officials take over the project when the deadline it had set for the Reuthers to submit plans for the property lapsed.
• April 2006: City officials vote to hire an engineer to create a plan to stabilize parts of the structures still in threat of total collapse.
• June 29, 2006: The Reuthers announce they have hired Bill Greenwood’s Antique Wood and Brick Company of Mississippi to begin stabilizing and demolishing the property.
• July 2006: City officials order Antique Wood and Brick Company to cease stabilization work, claiming Greenwood had not submitted a required engineer’s report. Meanwhile, officials forego opening bids on stabilization work and give the Reuthers 30 days to get the required permits and begin the work again.
• August 2006: Instead of filing a plan for the work, the Reuthers file an injunction against the city in chancery court asking for permits to demolish still-standing structures at 707 and 709 Clay St. and clear the remnants of 711 and 713 Clay St. Meanwhile, the roadway in front of the collapsed buildings is re-opened to traffic.
• November 2006: A court ruling on whether the buildings will be preserved or demolished is delayed and reassigned after Vicksburg-based Chancellor Vicki Roach Barnes recuses herself from the case.
• January 2007: Court dates are set in Greenville in front of Chancellor Marie Wilson for May 15 and 16, 2007.
• July 2007: Chancellor Wilson signs an order transferring the case back to Warren County Circuit Court on the grounds the chancery had no jurisdiction.
• February 2008: Despite the legal wrangling, city officials vote once again to take bids on having the site cleared and stabilized.
• March 2008: A June trial date is set in front of Circuit Judge Isadore Patrick in Vicksburg.
• June 16, 2008: Judge Patrick approves an agreement between the Reuthers and the city to allow the Reuthers to dismantle the properties and clear the collapse site if work begins within 30 days. They are given 18 months to complete the work.
• July 2008: Work becomes apparent at the collapse site for the first time in years, as Antique Wood and Brick is contracted by the Reuthers for the work.
• August 2009: Ownership of the properties is transferred from the Reuthers to Downtown Vicksburg Investments LLC, headed by a Jackson law firm.
• December 2009: With the 18-month deadline set to expire, the city begins negotiations with Antique Wood and Brick to extend the agreement.
•
Contact Steve Sanoski at ssanoski@vicksburgpost.com