(Danville) — A developer will get to take down an old tobacco warehouse and replace it with a large apartment complex.
ARRG Properties asked the River District Design Commission for a Certificate of Appropriateness to demolish the former warehouse at 601 Lynn Street to make way for a 125-unit brick apartment complex.
ARRG spokesperson Austin Bunn told Danville City Council this week their plans call for a four-story building with a clubhouse, a pool, a fitness facility and a rooftop patio. “Right now its a large building taking up a very large parcel in the (River) District,” Bunn said. “We would like to use it for something that, as you all know, the city desperately needs—housing.”
The 12,000 square foot warehouse was built in 1886 and is recognized as an historic structure. But Bunn says the same qualities that make it historic prevent them from renovating it to apartments. “The layout of the building, specifically the lack of windows, the floor heights, the number of columns and column location and depth of the building prohibit redevelopment,” Bunn said. “The River District guidelines specifically mention this building being problematic for a viable modern use.”
The River District Design Commission has twice rejected the certificate. Commission Co-Chair Adam Jones says they carefully weighed the pros and cons in each vote. “This is noted as one of the most significant pieces of inventory in the Tobacco Warehouse District,” Jones told Council. “It is one of the best examples of a tobacco warehouse with its dog-tooth brick molding.”
An inventory statement reads that the “small arched windows with iron shutters minimizing natural light demonstrate the structures used as a storage facility as opposed to a working factory”.
ARRG appealed to Danville City Council to approve the demolition. Councilman Lee Vogler says he doesn’t want the building sitting vacant for another 20 years with no buyers. “Its a great piece of history but will it be beneficial to our city and our citizens if it continues to sit and rot,” Vogler asked. “Or would it be more beneficial to revitalize it in another way?”
But Councilman Larry Campbell was uncomfortable with Council overruling the River District Design Commission. “I don’t know if we need to address our bylaws but this may not be fair to the Commission,” Campbell said.
Mayor Alonzo Jones admits this was a tough call. “Years ago when we traveled to Greenville, South Carolina and looked at their revitalization, we were told that we were going to have to make some tough decisions weighing historic preservation and future development,” Jones said.
Council voted 8-1 to overturn the Commission’s ruling. Madison Whittle was the lone dissenter.
Developers will still have to go back to the River District Commission for final approval of their apartment plans.
A study last year by the Danter Company concluded that Danville needs more than 1,000 additional homes to meet demand generated by nearly 4,000 jobs expected to come to the Dan River Region through next year.(Rendering by ARRG of 601 Lynn St.)