Historic South End could lose some of its history this spring.

The owner of the historic Dilworth Fire Station No. 2 has rejected an offer from the city and county to buy the property, and has indicated he plans to destroy the 100-year-old building.

The station, built in 1909 to house two horse-drawn fire engines, sits next to the luxury Arlington condos and parking deck. It's a dramatic contrast of old and new.

Fire station property owner Marcel Starks applied for permission from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission to raze the building last May.

Although the fire station has local and national historical designation, state law requires the commission to allow demolition of a landmark if the owner requests it. But the commission can delay the demolition for a year, to try and find solutions to save properties.

On Tuesday, the commission sent Stark an e-mail indicating it wanted to purchase the property, located at 1212 South Blvd., for $950,000.

Stark, who purchased the lot with another investor in May 2006 for about $1.03 million, said no, said commission director Dan Morrill.

He said Stark replied in an e-mail he'd be happy to consider another offer and gave the commission until Wednesday to submit one. Otherwise, Stark wrote, he would continue with the planned teardown, and then sell the lot to a developer, Morrill said.

"We of course are disappointed Mr. Stark won't accept what we think is a fair market price," Morrill said. "It's a very striking building. It's going to be fairly dramatic if that building gets torn down."

Stark was unavailable for immediate comment.

When Stark bought the property at the height of the real estate market in 2006, he and fellow investor Jeff Tomascak planned to convert it to a private garage and club for car buffs.

The men planned to double the size of the building to 8,800 square feet with a two-story annex. The lot is about 7,500 square feet.

Plans for the car club fell through, said Tomascak, who said he sold his interest in the building to Stark and exited the project shortly after the sale closed.

Today, the building sits empty, with only a few desks and some ductwork sitting on the first floor.

"Tearing that thing down, that's a landmark, that's a shame," Tomascak said upon hearing the news. "That's a huge offer they gave him. He should have jumped all over that."

Owner bought in boom times

Real estate experts say Stark's rejection of the commission's offer illustrates how the gap between sellers' and buyers' expectations remains a stumbling block in negotiations. U.S. commercial real estate prices nationwide have fallen on average by 40 percent during the past three years, according to a report released Thursday by the Congressional Oversight Panel.

Stark tried to sell the property in 2007 for about $1.6 million, according to an expired real estate listing.

In 2006, Stark borrowed $828,000 from American Community Bank for the purchase, according to the Mecklenburg County Register of Deeds.

The Historic Landmark Commission's chairman, Bill Hobbs, said his group stands by its current offer, which he said is based on a recent appraisal. The commission uses public money in a revolving fund to buy historic properties, which they then try to resell with preservation convents to protect the buildings' futures.

"It would be a reckless use of public funds to use the revolving fund to acquire this property at the inflated price that Mr. Stark needs for a bailout of his investment position, given the current real estate market," Hobbs said. "I think it would be a tragedy for the city of Charlotte if Mr. Stark chooses to tear it down. It's a real treasure."

Hobbs and Morrill said they've seen more rejections from owners who have balked at what the commission is willing to pay for property in today's real estate market.

Properties worth less

"It's very difficult for a lot of people to understand that appraisals for property are not as high as they would have been two or three years ago," Morrill said. "They find that very difficult to accept."

During the boom times, the South End became a darling among developers because of its proximity to uptown and, later, the Lynx light-rail line. But as the recession hit, many projects, particularly high-end condos, have been delayed or abandoned because of a lack of funding.

The 2010 vision plan for the center city "prioritizes the preservation of the historic structures that we still have, because we really have a very limited inventory," said Charlotte Center City Partners president Michael Smith.

Smith said it would be "regrettable" for the old station, the city's last standing fire station built for horse-drawn engines, to be torn down.

"It's that limited number of structures like that that really provide the South End its flavor," Smith said.