RECENT COMMENTS
Neighbor vs neighbor
In response to renewed interest in both 401 North 27th Street and the apparently stalled Church Hill Market, I went out on Sunday to get more recent photos of each. While out, I ran into a woman claiming to own one of the other empty commercial properties at 27th and Marshall Streets; she would not give me her name, but according to the city property records that would make her Sandra Murray (and thus sister to Patrick Murray, the owner of 401).
The woman was prickly about any ongoing discussion of the condition of the buildings. Blaming the meddling of neighbors for the current status of the former laundry at 401 North 27th Street, she said that except for their interference “the building would have been finished two years ago”. When asked if the building was in danger of being demolished, she said that while the city was not going to take down the building, that the owner himself might have it taken down.
I don’t want to step into this too deep, I don’t know enough of the story to really understand what is going on here. All I can say is that, as a resident of the general area, it pains me to see the neighborhood’s architectural heritage falling into rubble whether it is this prominent and historic commercial building or a forgotten little house hard up against the projects.
What a bunch of bull! This owner is purposely being difficult because people in the neighborhood have expressed their frustration with the condition of the buildings. I would like for her to expressly describe how the neighbors have hindered her progress.
Eyesore Is Piece Of Richmond History (wric/abc8 4/19)
Speaking of neighbors …. what ever happened to the women’s social group that met on a regular bases a couple of years ago. I only had the opportunity to go once but thought it was great. Has anything taken it’s place?
Glad you posted a link to the TV-8 news story. In fact, it was my comments on this board that got the reporter interested but she could not locate me to interview (I was still at work).
Sandra Murray is full of B.S. and won’t even give the Historic Richmond Foundation who are interested in purchasing the building much info either. Patrick told them to go through Sandra for information.
Yeah, Patrick would have finished the building 2 years ago bypassing city codes and inspections but doing it legit is a problem for him. I have documented emails from various people in the city who told me actually what happened and he was given several chances in the past to bring the building up to code as well as present blueprints on what he will do but as of yet hasn’t and is on the verge of going to court.
The city has sidetracked demolishing the building until either Murray does something or sells to the HRF. It is falling apart day by day and with each rain, gets worse.
I can’t still help but feel that Murray is hoping to tear it down – waiting and keeping everyone at bay until it get to that point and can sell off the land or build something “new” there looking out of place in the neighborhood.
I will keep everyone up to date here but that is where everything stands for now.
Eric Huffstutler
(the meddler – and proud of it!)
Also, noticed yesterday and this morning that the NW corner of the building seen in the last photo above, is getting precariously unstable. Again, with each rain that corner seems to sink causing it to twist and buckle. The crack has opened up even more and new pieces falling out. One place on the crack you can see the Coke machine inside the building through it! But also on the same “side” of the building are cracks running the entire height of the building which can be seen staring to separate and causing the roof to wrinkle and buckle with pieces falling out of the roof. Not a good situation and in need of immediate stabilization repairs!
Eric
Back in November 2006, Murray rebuilt the back brick wall of the building that had collapsed. It was a positive start and earnest in his attempt to replicate the original but now see that part of it has now also collapsed towards the NE corner between 401 and 403. Not very good work if this has happened already! And was probably part of what Sandra mentioned about Patrick’s attempt 2 years ago?
Fact is that he got in way over his head… the building is old, older than most, and needs special attention towards repairs and extra deep pockets which apparently he does not have. Tax shelter? It won’t be long in this accelerated crumbling state. He should have sold out years ago and let someone else save and restore this building rather than sit on it until near demolition. Obviously he is not appreciative of historic buildings!
What gets me is that he bought the building in 2004 but waited until 2006 to start assessing damages for reconstruction. Some of his earlier permits looked as though he wanted to put those ratty barber shops that are currently in smaller delapodated linked buildings along Marshall Street into this building. Then when the wall was being rebuilt, the construction workers mentioned him putting a Laundromat back in. Either way, he waited 2 years to do anything with the building after purchasing it, it was out of code then, and once he started tearing down walls and seeing just what shape the foundation of this building is in, only worked a minimum on it for a week or two and then disappear for months – cycling this way for the next 3 years. He has had PLENTY of opportunity to do something and work with the city.
Sandra’s comments about Patrick may have to tear it down though the city doesn’t, makes me believe he will continue dragging his feet on this until it “is” necessary, what he most likely wants. I am waiting on a reply from the Codes Office to get their latest take on this situation that seems to be moving very slowly.
Eric
Eric, thank you for your diligence in this. I have followed your comments and I very much appreciate your time and effort.
Thanks Anonymous. I “think” I know who you are 🙂 Just keep looking here as well as the thread about 401 for updates.
Glad John started this one though it can be misleading (hard to find by others) not citing 401 in the subject title.
Eric
I’ve added a “401 North 27th” tag for this topic. Any future posts about this location will get tagged with this, making it possible to lump them all together in one place. You can bookmark this link if the topic/location is of ongoing interest to you.
Not sure what was happening yesterday (Saturday, 4/26/2008)but there were 2 cars that pulled up in front of our house with men in suits and a woman, who walked the block looking and taking pictures of the 401 building and looking at our house. Not sure what was going on? Developer? Tag looked out of state. I’ll try and find out.
Eric
Just posting an update.
The HRF says that the Murray’s are now not speaking to them. They are waiting on the city but at the same time talking to a contractor.
I did hear from my source at the Code Enforcement Division who said that Patrick Murray was issued a Spot Blight letter under legislation and Code of Virginia 36-49.1.1 last week and given 30 days to make changes or loose the property. We have to wait and see now on that one unless something changes before that?
Not that I saw everyone Saturday but know those I did see were not Patrick but possibly did see Sandra talking to them? I was at a distance looking through a window.
There was supposed to have also been some exposure on Channel 12 about the building as well – must have missed that one? I know Channel 8’s was due to my big mouth here 🙂
Eric
Latest update is that the Spot Blight time is running out on June 5th for Patrick Murray to respond. So far he hasn’t.
Apparently there was a contractor recently interested in this building but was turned down as well as HRF request to send a contractor out to do their own evaluation for costs of restoration. Not sure what his game plan is but playing hardball will not get him anywhere. If he does not reply with legitimate plans by June 5th, then the case will go to the Planning Commission and that could take a month and then to City Council for sale which could tack on yet another month.
I am afraid with the movement of the building’s walls due to the heavy rains and now upcoming hurricane season, it may not be able to take much more. And he used the wrong kind of mortar for the back wall he “repaired” 2 years ago which is why bricks are now falling out.
Yet legal channels have to be followed towards the owner until all has been exhausted.
I do understand he has a list of violations and owes money to his interest is not on the front burner right now and feel like the city will take it over but won’t be overnight.
Eric
Eric, yes a contractor did make a bid but Patrick did not think it was enough money. The problem is that neither Patrick or Sandra seem to have the funds to restore this building – why not just sell it to someone who does and will save it? I have to say, though, at this stage of the game, is it worth saving? Eric, you seem to know much about structure, etc. – do you think that it may not be able to be saved?
Is it possible that the owners won’t sell to white people? The owners are black. The previous owner (“Four Corners” Charlie) was also black and wouldn’t sell any of his properties to white people.
This is a fairly common occurrence up hear in Church Hill, blacks not selling to whites. I suppose it’s understandable considering the course of history. It’s also common for blacks to keep their properties and hand them down from generation to generation. They would rather the property crumble to dust than to hand it over to someone else, especially white people.
As far as salvaging… I am not really sure? I truly hope it is but again there will need to be a LOT of work done in every aspect of construction to save this building on historic merits alone. If it was less than 100 years old then I would have my doubts and tear it down. But being the oldest commercial building in Richmond, it is worth a chance for someone with adequate funds like the Historic Richmond Foundation. Not much could go in the site, possibly a museum for Church Hill (I could be curator) 🙂
Eric
NEWS FLASH…
I heard through the grapevine that Patrick Murray may have sold this building. To whom… I am trying to find out now but from what I gather it is not an “improvement” over the current condition. Stay Tuned…
Eric
PS… I did see some activity at the old restaurant building across from 401 this past weekend. More sealing the building up and saw something I haven’t see in a long time and thought odd. Charlie (Johnson) was sitting in front of it. If this is no longer his property, why would he squat outside? strange.
Eric
OK… here is the scoop. So far if there is an ownership chance it hasn’t been recorded yet but did talk to someone who seems to know what is happening. That they offered to buy the building from Patrick Murray but wanted to also buy 325 as well but he would not do that. Seems 325 N 27th is also in sad shape and the roof is imploding. They also offered to buy Charlie Johnson’s last building but he refused and will “only” sell to Sandra Murray!
That Patrick Murray sold to a relative / cousin or in-law within the past 2-3 weeks for 200k.
The Murrays know they don’t have the knowledge or resources to fix the building up and refuse to find out about historical funding. That they bought the property as an investment and just keeping it in the family dragging it out even longer until someone comes along and offers big bucks for it down the line.
What happens now??? Will keep you informed. I also heard that the city can do something if they wanted to about the building but just jerking about also on it for over a year.
Eric
une 5th update…
I spoke with Art Dahlberg of DCD and he said he had spoken with the person who may not be the new owner (did not indicate he was) but the brother-in-law and person taking over the implementation of moving forward with renovating the building. They only have until tomorrow to pull it all together or the city will take its next step. Said “Mr. York” had brought in a 3 strand contract to show (whatever that means?) and now waiting for it all but so far nothing. The way Mr. Dahlberg spoke sounded very Open Ended to me and I was not satisfied with our conversation.
He did mention that he will be watching the renovation and making sure they follow CAR guidelines but as a private property owner can’t “make” them do anything other than bring the building up to code. I think simply bringing it up to code won’t help the aesthetics or gentrify the neighborhood and we will be back to base one in 2004.
Eric
June 24th update…
York construction aka Walter S. York III (the brother-in-law of Patrick Murray) “fixed” – if you call it that, the NW corner that was twisting and bulging and cracked wide open last week. The Codes Department said no matter what they do now to the building the process of it going through the Planning Commission stage won’t stop so their efforts are in vain.
Also it has been confirmed that the foreclosure notice seen in last Saturday and Monday’s paper has been cancelled per the attorney handling the lien but no explanation as to why.
Eric
July 22nd Updates
This past Sunday there were 2 pickup trucks and a few workers inside the building but nothing visible was done. Suspect that they did something to the rotten wooden rear section as it is looking a bit unstable lately again.
There has been also new developments concerning the building across the street at 325 N 27th owned by Sandra Murray. The old “27th street Inn” neon sign was removed a couple of weeks ago because it was breaking apart the facade of the building and dangerous but no permit was issued. And there has been other activities going on through the back door of the building.
She has been cited with 4 different violations and on the General District Court – Criminal dockets for 7/24/2008 at 1:30PM all for failure to maintain the building(s) for various reasons.
GC08005831-00 through GC08005834-00
Eric
This is so very sad. I don’t know the complete history of this building or the owners; but I can see that whomever is continuing this post is not trying to help his neighbor in the least. All the energy used in all the meddling, investigating, apparently calling the city for each violation spotted, etc. . . could have been used to help and educate the current owers before it came down to this. I imagine now the owners want nothing to do with preserving the building historically . . . as it seems someone has turned what could have been an enlightning experience into seemingly a nightmare.
Cordie,
This building’s issues have been ongoing since 2004. It would take a very LOOOONG post to fill you in but the basic concept is that
1) the building was condemned.
2) it was sold rather than being fixed.
3) the new owners got in over their heads.
4) the new owners had no true intent on doing anything with this building.
5) the owners kept playing games with the city until…
6) it was slated for demolition which was stopped but then…
7) issued spot blight (rightfully so) and again sat until…
8) it was sold again.
In the mean time it sits open to the elements falling apart.
The current new owners have a clear path now to hopefully restore the building. Their intent is to open a restaurant (not very viable with so much competition within blocks of it) and have apartments connected but at this juncture, they have several hurdles to jump before the business aspect can materialize (city codes such as parking is one) and to make sure the building is done to code as well as historically accurate. In the mean time they will work on the apartment aspect. Unfortunately it has come to near winter time now and it looks like the building will have to endure the harsh elements once again. Let’s hope it is still standing by Spring.
And no, I am NOT the only person involved though I brought it to light and followed through. There were Associations, City Officials, Media, and Interested Parties involved and when it comes to a high profile historic building and one in a residential neighborhood, you will have “involvement”. It was the Murray’s that kept sitting on their ass over this building and again, would not provide viable plans nor proof of finances to do anything with it for the past 4 years.
Eric
And yes, people will be watching every aspect of construction to cite any code violations because this building deserves better than a simple band aide fix and to be opened as a slumlord complex within a gentrified and historic community. Plus it is a historic landmark within Richmond so should be protected.
Eric
Cordie, as someone who loves within the vicinity of this building, I will tell you that the meddling is not of a destructive nature. I do know (from their own words) that the owners (or previous owners) Patrick and Sandra, purposefully were difficult because they resented the city getting involved in their affairs. I do believe that they were in over their heads financially but were reluctant top give up the properties. No education was necessary in this instance – they were perfectly aware of their actions. So that being said, I appreciate your comments, Cordie, since you seem to want the right thing to happen for these properties. And call him meddling or not, I, for one, appreciate Eric’s focus on this building and his willingness to do the right thing.
300 block neighbor and Cordie…
The sad part about all of this is the fact that the new current owner is the brother-in-law to Patrick Murray, the old owner who was deliberately playing games with the city. Who knows if they will actually follow through with the approved plans because nothing is going on right now and sure they have the same mindset as their in-laws.
The bottom line was that Murray wanted to simply “fix up” the building slipping by a lot of code violations to do a quick turn-around. I guess he had no idea how involved the city has to be and once he gutted the building saw just how old and deteriorated it was and didn’t have the finances to fix it up. So, he sat on it 1) hoping it would fall down so he could sell the land or 2) find someone who would buy it for a mint. I know of several people who approached him to buy not only that building but several others and even one who wanted all 4 corners but they refused to sell. I “know” there is also some racially underlying motivation involved as well and have heard some remarks being made within earshot of me over the course of time.
Eric
I am really surprised anyone responded to my comment. Like I said, I know very little about theis particular property; but from reading this thread, I can see the passion it has inspired in many people. I believe when people have the kind of passion that is expressed here, something good always happens as long as we keep our dignity and humanity.
Regarding the race issues, as an African American female, I can only imagine what some of the sentiments are regarding this. I had a feeling this may have been the case. But I feel that both sides need to communicate better.
Perhaps a moderator is needed in order to get things moving in a positive direction, as a tone of distrust has been set on both sides.
I really don’t agree that the owners sat it on it to make a profit; being that they came so close to foreclosure. I feel that maybe their finances could not afford to restore; but they held a sentimental value of the property still. I know many who have been in this predictiment; and although they usually sell in the long run, it is not an easy or fast decision. In fact, it is usually a very painful decison.
Anywhoo . . . I often think way too optimistically; but since the building is still standing, there is still hope of it being restored.
A moderator might help. One problem is that the owers evidently are not nearly as passionate about restoration as you are. If your passion can be communciated without hostility and their lack lustre feelings on restoration can be communicated without hostility, in addition to their feelings that perhaps the area is being “taken over” then perhaps a mutual solution can be worked out.
I may be wrong here, but I think that this is how they may feel. I’ve heard these sentiments before. I understand your concerns and love your passion.
Blessings to all of you . . . keep your passion; but don’t lose your compassion.
Thanks Cordie. You make a powerful and honest statement which is greatly appreciated. You have correctly touched upon several factors and can’t but help feel that you may have some inside information considering the points mentioned?
I do know that the building was built in 1815 and is the oldest commercial building still standing in Richmond. That alone should speak for itself. It takes a certain compassion from the owner as well to tackle such a high profile project.
I also know that when Charlie Johnson owned the building from 1969-2004, there eventually evolved a very thick (one person called it a book) of code violations on the building but considering how lax or slow the city is about these things, did nothing until it was condemned and closed. I am sure he was heart sickened since that was his source of income for so long and was a low overhead business. But honestly it wasn’t “low overhead” when you consider the high upkeep of such an old building. I also know that Charlie owned the 27th Street Inn restaurant (325 N 27th) for many years as well along with his wife but something happened along the way and he also converted the other 2 buildings into Laundromats. The 401 building has been a Laundromat since 1947.
I also feel there are racial divisions here and considering the age of these people and their background, may not be an easy change of heart and so doubt that can be resolved. There is a certain mindset here and feel that they see these buildings are a “last stand” stronghold to what is left of the neighborhood they knew for so long which has radically changed. No one is trying to force anyone out and I do hope we can coexist without slurs and prejudice. The owners of these building just have to go with the flow of what is happening to better the neighborhoods or sell to someone who can, as well as be honest with the city and the community that surrounds them.
Eric
Oldest commercial building in Richmond! Wow that’s quite impressive! Any ideas on the costs of restoration? Perhaps the owners would be willing sell if the building would be restored for community uplifting purposes; perhaps a community center to educate children on architecture and engineering; or maybe even a museum about merchant history in Church Hill. It would be a shame to let the oldest commercial building standing in Church Hill, let alone Richmond, be demolished. It has so much history in it. I can hear the music playing inside right now! I’ll have to do some research to see what’s going on here.
Have a blessed day!
Cordie…
At one point in the venture the Historic Richmond Foundation became involved after I told them the building was slated for demolition. We were able to stop that process when I explained the history of it to the city officials as well as to the HRF. The HRF had the funds set aside and an architect as well as contractors lined up but now the HRF has no interest in it because they wanted it to restore themselves but since the city is letting Mr. York proceed, attitudes have changed. I mentioned to them about the parking and traffic situation and hinted putting something in like a history museum on Church Hill but they were not keen on that idea. Personally I think that would be perfect also considering the building’s small size and location.
My personal involvement runs deeper because of the fact that the man who built our house (Capt. Charles Wills) in 1812 (oldest house in Church Hill proper), also built the corner store as his business building, one of several in town. At one point in time it was only our house, the various out buildings related to it, and the store on that side of the block.
Check around and post your findings… I will be watching for them.
Eric
Apparently the plans for renovation through C.A.R. description includes demolition of a CMU. I could not envision what they were talking about but was later told it was a cinder block structure added in 1950 behind the wooden section. Maybe it is because of the color or the fact that it really isn’t a “structure” but a storage area wall (now acting as a fence) that I have overlooked it but clearly seen in the pictures above. No big deal there but I do have an issue with City Council repeatedly rescheduling their agenda concerning this building to allow Walter York to make reinforcement changes or the city will take the building over. I thought he was given a chance to restore and open the building up as a business and presented C.A.R. with architectural plans yet all they seek are reinforcements? That happened a couple years back with the back wall that is now falling apart and the bracing holding up the wooden portion facade yet the focus to preserve and restore this historic structure remains to be seen after 4-years!
Eric