‘There will be nothing left.’ Preservation group fights to save historic hotel from demolition
A group calling for the preservation of a historic hotel uptown is seeking to stop demolition, as Charlotte’s housing authority moves forward with plans to redevelop it into affordable apartments.
Inlivian, formerly the Charlotte Housing Authority, has announced plans to build 368 mixed-income apartments on land it owns next to the proposed Seventh and Tryon development. That plan involves tearing down the Hall House, formerly the Barringer Hotel.
But a “Save the Hall House” campaign led by Clayton Sealey, a local creative director and social media manager, says affordable housing can still be built on the site while preserving the historic hotel. Sealey runs the social media page CLT Development devoted to Charlotte development and urban planning news.
Inlivian’s 2.2-acre property had originally been included in the Seventh and Tryon redevelopment plan, which calls for apartments, an office tower, a mixed-use building, parking and retail. But a dispute over land use cut down the plan to 1.5 blocks and removed Inlivian and its land from the project.
Under the original two-block plan, the former hotel was to be renovated into a boutique hotel. But now Inlivian plans to move forward on its own to build the apartments, 110 of them with rents below market rate.
That plan would tear down the building, built in 1940 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Charlotte has developed a reputation for demolishing its history, and preservationists and local officials have been working to change that in recent years.
City council member Larken Egleston said he is looking for a strategy that would save the historic site and add affordable housing uptown.
“It’s not just about that one building, it’s about at some point saying, enough is enough,” Egleston said. “If we don’t at some point say we’re done tearing down the significant pieces of the built environment of our city, then there will be nothing left.”
Hall House history
The 12-story building operated as a hotel from 1940 to 1975, according to a report from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission.
Featuring characteristics of the Art Deco style, the Barringer is the only hotel of its style and type remaining in the city’s center, the report states. Its famous guests include Judy Garland and Joan Crawford.
“There are not a lot of things like this left in Charlotte, and people are tired of watching our history get demolished,” Sealey said.
After the hotel closed it was converted into low-income senior housing and for a short time operated as a winter shelter. It’s been vacant since 2014.
While the building has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 2011, it is not a designated local landmark, said Jack Thomson, executive director of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission.
Without local landmark designation, the commission has limited influence over changes, Thomson said.
While Thomson called the national register designation “almost 100% honorific in nature,” it could trigger a review before substantial changes or demolition of a building on the register that is funded, permitted, licensed, or approved by a federal agency.
Affordable apartments uptown
When Inlivian pitched its plan to county commissioners in May, seeking a share of proceeds from land sales for the Seventh and Tryon project, commissioners asked if saving the building had been considered.
Inlivian officials and its architecture firm said the building’s older features, including low ceilings and small windows, would require significant work to bring units to a modern standard that would compete with other uptown apartments.
To do so would require much more public investment than the $6 million they asked for and ultimately got from commissioners, they said.
The $103.5 million development calls for 368 apartments, 110 of them affordable, and ground level retail on Tryon Street. The project would be a significant addition of affordable housing in uptown, where city and county officials have long acknowledged a challenge to put units due to land costs.
Inlivian officials have said they’re committed to honor the building’s history, but have not publicly shared what that might look like.
In a statement Friday, Inlivian CEO Fulton Meachem said they have been exploring the feasibility of preservation for more than seven years. Inlivian officials met with the preservation group “in the spirit of its continued commitment to an open dialogue and honest discussion.”
“We believe our discussion with CLT Development clarified the challenges involved in such a project and allowed for a greater understanding and appreciation of our shared goals. INLIVIAN will continue to respect and dignify the history of this site within the resources, relative to both time and money, available to us,” he said.
Sealey said Inlivian’s commitment to preserve the memory of the building is not enough.
“When I hear someone say that they’re committed to preserving the legacy of something, that tells me they’re going to demolish it,” he said.
Sealey acknowledged the challenges with the building, but said the site is large enough to accommodate both a refurbished hotel and an affordable housing development, if it were built more densely.
He said he has spoken with three different buyers who are interested in the Hall House property in order to rehab the building as a hotel.
Longtime preservationist Dan Morrill, former director of the landmarks commission, said it would be difficult to convert the hotel to residential use.
“There’s just so much working against that building,” he said. “You just come up against economic realities.”
He said it would be possible to keep the exterior of the Hall House building while gutting and rebuilding the interior — but it would cost more. The Dunhill Hotel, the city’s only operating historic hotel just two blocks away from the Hall House, underwent a similar renovation, he said.
But Egleston said there are public and private dollars with interest in historic preservation. He also said no developer wants the “bad PR” that comes with tearing down a historic structure.
“There’s always a less expensive way to do things,” he said. “There are people out here with the dollars that are willing to (preserve) it, there are people out here with the expertise to do it.”
This story was originally published July 31, 2020 at 1:21 PM with the headline "‘There will be nothing left.’ Preservation group fights to save historic hotel from demolition."
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