Time running short for historic Villa Heights house [The Roanoke Times, Va.]
By David Ress, The Roanoke Times, Va. | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
While
The city's engineers, though, think the cost of restoring the 5,036-square-foot house could reach
With that kind of money at stake, if nobody wants the building, it might be time to see if the neighborhood would rather raze the building and use its 3.4-acre lot as a park, Ledger said.
So he is pushing once again to see if anyone wants to buy or lease the building.
"We're not trying to make a lot of money. We just want to find it someone who will love it," Ledger said.
It's a challenge, though. The city's insurer has said it will pay up to
On top of that, the house is not on a main street, so Ledger said that one potential commercial use, as professional offices, might not be attractive.
Nonprofit groups might find a home in the former recreation center, but the city would need lease payments high enough to cover maintenance and repairs. So far, the handful of offers that have drifted in haven't reached that point.
"We'd want a reasonable rate. That's not necessarily a market rate -- we're not expecting
Nor does the city want to give the house away. Ledger said the city would not want to sell the property for less than
The city would want to know how the property would be used, to make sure any future owner or renter would be a good neighbor.
"We have to be good stewards of the city's property," Ledger said. "It belongs to all of us."
The city acquired the property from the Bateman family in 1958, tax records show. Built in the Greek Revival style with handmade Flemish-bond brick, it was the home of the prominent McClanahan and Langhorne families, and is on land once owned by
The city used the property as a satellite office for the police department and as a recreation center. But by 1999, city officials decided to sell the property because it was used so little.
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