[Southsider2k12]

http://www.thenewsdispatch.com/articles/20.../10/news/n3.txt

Council seeks options for downtown buildings
By Amanda Haverstick, The News-Dispatch


After an update this week on the long-empty Warren Building, the Michigan City Common Council is searching for a way to spur activity in it and other vacant downtown structures.

City Planner John Pugh presented the council on Tuesday with a status report on the building in the 700 block of Franklin Street. A Nov. 28, 2006, inspection by the city building inspector, said Pugh, found that the building is secure.

“It does not present a public safety hazard at this time,” Pugh said. “The Planning Department will continue to monitor its condition.”

Pugh said building owner Daniel O'Brien has repaired the roof numerous times, and he said, each floor has been cleared and stripped of material. The building inspector also checked the windows and found a broken pane on the east side, two north side windows cracked, two west side windows boarded up and two south side windows blocked off from the inside.

“The building consists of thermal glazing, which means there's two panes of glass,” Pugh said. “There are no windows that provide entry (or allow) the weather or elements into the building. We will continue to monitor that.”

Councilman Chuck Lungren, D-1st Ward, said the problem with the Warren Building is that the city has no tools to get the owner to do anything with the highly visible historic building.

Built in 1925, the Warren Building housed Dr. Frank Warren's medical clinic. The 72,000-square-foot building has been a hotel, a clinic and home to a variety of professional offices, as well as City Hall.

Montgomery Ward once occupied the first and second floors until it closed in 1968. The building has been empty since the early 1990s.

“Basically our hands are tied,” Lungren said. “It sure is extremely frustrating to the citizens of this town to see that building sit vacant for a decade. I know (it's) secure, but it doesn't secure us economically.”


Lungren asked Pugh if there was anything the city could do to try and have developers fix up the city's empty buildings or put them back on the market

“It's dead,” Lungren said. “That downtown needs this to be taken care of.”

Pugh said he did not think there is a quick fix to the issue. “From time to time we have, and we will continue, to meet with the owners and discuss with them their options,” Pugh said. “As long as (O'Brien) maintains the building and keeps it secure and it doesn't becomes a nuisance ... he's met the obligation.”

Pugh said he was aware that O'Brien has entertained proposals on the building, but could not disclose what his plans may be. “Our policy is we always let the owner or the developer make those announcements,” Pugh said. “(What he does is) really a market-driven issue.”

Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana Director Todd Zeiger asked if the city has considered using the receivership clause in the Indiana Unsafe Building Law. Receivership offers a mechanism to renovate and sell abandoned properties to qualified developers.

“We have used that on several occasions to convince the owners of buildings that are problematic to cooperate,” Zeiger said.

Pugh said the city has held off on using the receivership clause. “In regard to the Warren Building, we're certainly aware of receivership, however we have not opted to use that yet because we're still hopefully in friendly negotiations with the owner. We'd like to keep the doors open.”

Councilman Paul Przybylinski, D-2nd Ward, said there needs to be an effort, when the building is being discussed, to move forward.

“In all fairness to the general public ... we need to do something,” Przybylinski said. “If there's going to be plans for it ... there's always these big mysteries around town. I think people need to be made abreast of what's going on here.”

Lungren added, “There should be something on the books (that) if you buy a property in Michigan City and you don't do anything to it for 10 years, then maybe you have to put it back on the market. Don't leave us sit here with these boondoggles for year after year. It's wrong. Let us develop this area. We're sick of it.”

Contact reporter Amanda Haverstick at ahaverstick@thenewsdispatch.com.

[Tim]

Was Chuck Lungren phoning his comments in from a tavern?

Seriously, though - what CAN be done with the Warren Bldg? Or the whole downtown, really - now that MC's economic/retail center has shifted to 421 & 20. Are there any idea afloat in this area? It just doesn't seem like there are enough business in MC to sustain two commercial/professional centers, which you'd have to do to revive the downtown while maintaining the "new" center of MC, it seems.

Any ideas?

[Southsider2k12]

There is a fine line there, that I don't want to see crossed. I would love to see the building put to good use, but I absolutely think the rights of private property are the most important thing here. If this guy wants to own an empty building, there really isn't anything we should do about it. The building is not in neglect, and I assume the guy is paying his property taxes, so unless they have a plan in conjunction with the Historical group, they really don't need to be doing anything. Plus its not exactly like there has been a great record of developing the properties the City has taken control of...

Personally I think that area would be great as a professional enviornment, or as a technology hub. I know in Chicago they took the old RH Donnelley building next to McCormick place and turned that into a tech incubator lab kind of place. I would love to see MC get more aggressive in courting next generation type jobs, instead of the obsession with trying to attract manufacturing jobs. Personally I feel that if we want to move into the 21st century economically, we have to build our economic base with an eye on the future.