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Home My WebLink AboutHDC1995-007 Letter To Joan Tate Huot From Quapaw Quartter Association 10/20/19957 Quapaw Quarter Association 1315 South Scat Street • P.O. Box 165023 • Little Rock, Arkansas 72216 • 501-371-0075 • FAX 501-374-3142 PRESIDENT October 20, 1995 Judith Faust PREsmENT--ELECT Scott Mosley Joan Tate Huot 53 Hadley VIC-PRESIDEN"IS Lowell, Massachusetts 01853 Jim McKenzie Mark Zoeller Dear Mrs. Huot: TREASURER Clay Patty As you may know, the Quapaw Quarter Association (QQA) is Little Rock's historic preservation organization. We are very concerned about the fate of your family SECRETARY home, Curran Hall at 615 East Capitol Avenue, and hope that you will work with Linda Sue Sanders us on an option that appears to hold hope for the home's rehabilitation. Curran Hall is considered one of Little Rock's most important historic buildings. BOARD of DmECTDRs Not only is it one of our few remaining antebellum homes, but it is largely unaltered Mary Jane Bailey (unlike its contemporaries in the MacArthur Park neighborhood: Trapnall Hall, the Eric Spencer Buchanan pike -Fletcher -Terry House, and the Fowler House). However, because of Curran Paul er Hall's condition, efforts to find an individual willing to undertake its rehabilitation Don� have not been successful. Susan Gordon Gunter Kathi Jones Robin Loucks About fourteen months ago, the QQA approached the Little Rock Convention and Susan Maddox Visitors Bureau about the possibility of Curran Hall being acquired for Jim Metzger rehabilitation as the Little Rock Visitors' Center. Convention and Visitors Bureau Beth PeckCooper Renie Rule officials were very receptive to the idea for several reasons: they liked the idea of saving a historic landmark, interstate access to the Curran Hall site is good, and a visitors' center in Curran Hall could share parking with the new U. S. Post Office across the street. ExEcunw DmEcroR Because of other pressing concerns, Convention and Visitors Bureau officials just Cheryl Nichols recently focused on trying to acquire Curran Hall. They intended to offer $50,000 for the property but were informed that the asking price is $200,000. This price makes acquisition prohibitive and does not appear to be based on a realistic understanding of property values in the area around Curran Hall. Your application to the Little Rock Historic District Commission for a Certificate of Appropriateness (COA) to demolish Curran Hall states that you believe it is impossible to sell the property with the house standing but that the property would be worth $200,000 or more if the house were gone. At the hearing on your COA, the QQA will present information which we believe indicates just the opposite is true: there will be little demand for the property if it is vacant; the property's value derives from the interest that exists in saving Curran Hall. Mrs. Huot 10/20/95 Page 2 We understand that the Curran Hall property contains 17,800 square feet, so the $200,000 you feel you could get for the property if it were vacant works out to about $11.24 per square foot. The QQA obtained from a local appraiser the enclosed information concerning sales of vacant property in the vicinity of Curran Hall. As you can see, vacant properties in the area recently have sold for between $1.60 and $2.78 per square foot. At the high end of that range, $2.78 per square foot, the Curran Hall property would sell for $49,484. Your COA application also states that the $200,000 asking price is based upon the comparable land sale for the real property that was sold directly across the street from [the Curran Hall] property." We believe the sale of the land across the street from Curran Hall is not comparable for at least two reasons. Most important, the U. S. Postal Service was willing to pay a premium for the property because it was the only large vacant parcel available in the area where the new post office had to be constructed. (Even so, at the price paid by the Postal Service, about $6.00 per square foot, the Curran Hall property would sell for $106,800, just over half the asking price.) In addition, the post office property was zoned for more intensive use, "General Business" as opposed to Curran Hall's "High Density Residential." Finally, Curran Hall itself is generating the interest that exists in the property. If the house is demolished, the property will become just another small vacant parcel in an area where several small vacant parcels have remained unsold for years. The low demand for vacant property is substantiated by the low prices—$1.60 to $2.78 per square foot —paid for the few parcels that have sold. We urge you to reconsider the position you have taken on the price of the Curran Hall property and to work with the QQA and the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau to make possible Curran Hall's rehabilitation as a visitors' center which will stand as a tribute to your family and to Little Rock's early history. If I may be of assistance to you, please do not hesitate to contact me. Sincerely, Che ichols Executive D' for Enclosure cc: Fred Lewis Tate Mayor Jim Dailey Charles Nickerson Tom Carpenter Barry Travis Cy Carney Tony Bozynski David Couch Mrs. Cheryl Nichols, Executive Director October 12, 1995 Page 2. GRANTOR; Third Street Properties, LLC GRANTEE: Pioneer Land Company LEGAL DESCRIPTION: Lots 1, 2, 3, 10, 11 & 12, Pope's Addition, Little Rock, Arkansas, LESS the Railroad Right -of -Way LOCATION: This sale is located in the south half of the block bounded by the I-30 entrance ramp on the north, East 3rd Street on the south, Sherman Street on the east and Commerce Street on the west. SALE DATE: April 14, 1995 SIZE: 45,000 Sq. Ft., more or less SALES PRICE: $125,000.00 PRICE PER SQUARE FOOT: $2.78 INSTRUMENT NO: 95-21920 REMARKS: This sale consists of the south half of the block located as described above. It is encumbered by the railroad right-of-way and some portion of the tract may not be useable. An adjustment for this condition has been made. GRANTOR: First Service, Inc. GRANTEE: D.E.W. Management, Inc. LEGAL DESCRIPTION: Block 1, Johnson's Addition to the City of Little Rock, Arkansas LOCATION: This property is located on the east side of Ferry Street, between East 7th and East 8th Streets. The south bound I-30 Access Road forms the eastern property line of this property. SALE DATE: June 30, 1992 SIZE: 37,500 Sq. Ft., more or less SALES PRICE: $70,000.00 PRICE PER SQUARE FOOT: $2.00 INSTRUMENT NO: 92-43497 REMARKS: This site is located on the east side of Ferry Street, immediately south of the Best Western Inntowne at 600 I-30, and immediately north of the Quapaw Towers condominium complex. Since the sale the site has been paved and is currently used for parking for the hotel. This site is zoned "HDR, High Density Residential." ------------ No. 5 Inwood Circle, Suite 103 P.O. Box 24433 Little Rock, Arkansas 72221 Office (501) 224-7100 FAX (501) 228-9985 Mobil (501) 680-6672 Mrs. Cheryl Nichols, Executive Director October 12, 1995 Page 3. GRANTOR: FGS Limited Partnership GRANTEE: East End Properties LEGAL DESCRIPTION: Lots 1 through 6, Block 2, Rectortown Addition, and Lots 1 through 8, Block 4 Russell's Addition, Little Rock, Arkansas LOCATION: This sale is located along East 3rd Street Between Collins and Byrd Streets. SALE DATE: January 1, 1995 SIZE: 87,720 Sq. Ft., more or less SALES PRICE: $140,000 PRICE PER SQUARE FOOT: $1.60 INSTRUMENT NO: 95 09245 (This instrument corrects Instrument No. 95 01486) REMARKS: This sale consists of an entire city block bounded by East 2nd, East 3rd, Collins and Byrd Streets. It is located immediately east of the I-30 Interchange at 2nd Street. This site is zoned I-3 and had a small commercial building located on the site at the time of the sale but it was razed and the sale is considered to be for land only. GRANTOR; PFL Life Insurance Company GRANTEE: Little Rock Newspapers, Inc. LEGAL DESCRIPTION: Part of Lots 10, and all of Lots 11 and 12, and part of the alley, Block 7, Pope's Addition to Little Rock, Arkansas LOCATION: This sale is located at the northeast corner of West 2nd and Commerce Streets. SALE DATE: December 21, 1994 SIZE: 22,350 Sq. Ft. SALES PRICE: $54,000 PRICE PER SQUARE FOOT: $2.42 INSTRUMENT NO: 9486790 REMARKS: This sale consists of a corner site located at 2nd and Commerce Streets. It has been paved at one time, but the paving in is poor condition at present. It is zoned GB, General Business. No. 5 Innwood Circle, Suite 103 P.O. Box 24433 Little Rock, Arkansas 72221 Office (501) 224-7100 FAX (501) 228-9985 Mobil (501) 680-6672