THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 23, 1994 TAG: 9411230456
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B01 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PERRY PARKS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Short : 48 lines
Two longtime local auto dealers have donated two acres of downtown property to the College of The Albemarle Foundation and a trust fund, which on Tuesday sold the parcel to the state for the new Museum of the Albemarle.
The Ehringhaus Street property sold for $785,000, said attorney Zee Lamb, who represented the state in the purchase.
Jewel and Lee Davenport and North Carolina officials had been negotiating over the property, home of the Davenport Motors building, for several months.
The land is expected to eventually house a new Museum of the Albemarle encompassing some 50,000 square feet, much larger than the overburdened site on U.S. 17 South. State officials during negotiations had expressed excitement over the property and said it was better than land currently set aside for the museum.
About a block north of the Davenport property, in front of a vast asphalt lot now used for city parking, a sign lays claim to the future site of the museum. The City Council, which had deeded the property to the state three years ago, extended the gift for another year this winter.
But state museum officials said at the time that the land was imperfect because of a pump house on the property and its tendency to flood. A $1 million appropriation from the General Assembly was reserved for buying new land if it became available.
Lamb said about 10 percent of the Davenport property was donated to the COA Foundation, and about 90 percent went to a trust, for tax reasons. The state now owns all the property, Lamb said.
Proceeds of the COA Foundation's portion of the sale represent the largest gift in the history of COA, foundation Executive Director Lucy Gordon said in a news release. The gift will be used for scholarships, school officials said.
``The College of The Albemarle is our area's window to the future; the Museum of the Albemarle is our area's window to the past,'' Jewel Davenport said in the release. ``Lee and I are honored and excited to play a small part in preparing for the future and preserving the past.''
The Davenports grew up in Columbia and Creswell and moved to Elizabeth City in 1946 to open the Davenport Motor Co., the release says. The property's buildings are currently rented out to small businesses. by CNB