THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 22, 1997 TAG: 9702220269
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY IDA KAY JORDAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: 79 lines
A group of Olde Towne business people wants to block the sale or lease of four High Street storefront buildings to the Portsmouth Community Development Group.
A petition bearing 160 signatures asks the Portsmouth Redevelopment and Housing Authority not to sell or lease the buildings in the 600 block of High St. to the non-profit organization.
In a letter to PRHA board members, Richard Atkinson said he and his business neighbors ``feel it's time to sell the buildings to someone who will own and operate businesses that will bring new customers and tourists back to downtown Portsmouth.''
Elizabeth Psimas, chairman of the Portsmouth Division of the Chamber of Commerce and an Olde Towne business owner, said Friday that the main concern of most business people is getting more shops open as quickly as possible. She also said business owners want to get the buildings back on the tax rolls.
PRHA received eight proposals for the four buildings in the 600 block, which is part of the city's Vision 2005 economic development plan. Portsmouth Community Development Group submitted one of them. Others came from individuals who want to move existing businesses from other locations.
Portsmouth Community Development Group leased the buildings for $1 a year from PRHA in 1994. The organization said it would put an urban arts center in one building and create small business shops in the others. When the organization failed to do the promised rehabilitation, the housing authority revoked the lease and hired a contractor to do exterior renovation of the buildings.
Successful bidders for the buildings will have to complete the interior work. One building has been reconfigured with several small shops fronting on a courtyard. Other larger buildings are more suitable to antique dealers who may be interested in them.
Pat Hillard, a member of the non-profit organization's board, said the work on the buildings stopped when the city ``cut off Community Development Bloc Grant money.'' Now, he said, the organization has banks willing to lend money for the project and ``we have sort of started over again.''
But High Street business people are not convinced the property should be leased to a non-profit organization. Most of the proposals being considered include a purchase of one or more buildings.
Several antique dealers were among those who submitted proposals to buy the buildings, according to Philip Schlatt, co-owner of the Anderson-Wright antique business adjacent to the property in question. He said he would like to have other antique stores in the block to attract more buyers from other cities.
Atkinson, who signed the letter to PRHA, also owns an antique store in a nearby building.
``I don't see how they can consider giving PCDG any of the property after taking it back from them in the first place,'' Atkinson said. ``We don't need non-profits. We need to have taxes paid on this property.''
PRHA Director Danny Cruse said the authority should make a decision ``in the next two to four weeks.''
``We're looking at four different occupants for the four buildings,'' he said. ``Our concern is to get the highest and best use for the city and to have a positive impact on the people already invested in the block.''
But Cruse conceded that his board has a dilemma. The old plan to raze the buildings was scratched when Maury Cooke Jr., chairman of the Portsmouth Community Development Group, convinced PRHA that the buildings could be restored for new uses.
``There was no activity there,'' Hillard said. ``PCDG brought interest to the place. We feel we brought value to the block that nobody cared about three or four years ago.''
Hillard said he does not expect the Portsmouth Community Development Group to ``get it all'' when the PRHA makes a decision about the buildings.
``But PCDG should be part of it,'' he said. The organization would assist some first-time business owners with a Virginia Enterprise Initiative grant of about $90,000, he added.
``It wouldn't be your standard mall kind of stuff,'' he said. ``The shops would be unusual and multicultural.''
The 600 block of High Street is part of a city plan that includes development of a large parking area on Queen Street behind the buildings in question. Cruse said PRHA plans to put an entrance from the parking spaces into the rear of the buildings fronting High Street.