Kirtley Furniture warehouse might be razed to make way for chamber parking lot


By JIM GAINES, The Daily News,
Bowling Green city commissioners want to retake possession of the Kirtley Furniture building at 728-730 College St. and allow a parking lot for the new Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce headquarters nearby – but not quite yet, and with the lot’s final position to be worked out.
 
Commissioners discarded a request to replace the Kirtley building with a downtown parking lot last night, but agreed to bring back measures in January to end Sam Kirtley Jr.’s lease on the building – and figure out how to site parking along an alley paralleling State and College streets.

The item had been tabled early this month over concerns of how a lot would affect surrounding commercial property value, and whether the Kirtley building’s demolition would damage an abutting building owned by chamber of commerce President Rick Kelley.

A new chamber of commerce headquarters is being built at College Street and Seventh Avenue, and as part of a deal with the city, the chamber is required to build at least 40 spaces of public parking on its block and improve the alley connecting Seventh and Eighth avenues, with the city contributing $130,000 to the work.

Earlier plans called for parking along the central alley, but Downtown Redevelopment Authority Executive Director Cheryl Blaine told commissioners Dec. 5. that a design committee found the center-block lot would be too narrow to turn easily, would shift part of a proposed heritage trail and would affect the ability to develop of adjacent lots. Instead, the DRA recommended using the city-owned Kirtley building site for a parking lot. That building is leased back to its former owner, Sam Kirtley Jr., for $500 a month, though the lease includes a 90-day cancellation clause.

Blaine said that if the city decided to keep the building, it would have to face some code problems and that the low rent should be reconsidered.

Kelley told commissioners he’s óˆ­“ percent sure” that his building and the Kirtley building share a wall. He doesn’t want to sell his building, and the chamber won’t accept responsibility for damage done to it if the Kirtley building is demolished, he said. Kelley urged commissioners to decide Tuesday night how to deal with the conundrum.

“From the chamber’s perspective, we think that a decision is important,” he said.

Commissioner Mark Alcott suggested the course finally adopted: giving Kirtley notice to vacate, but building a parking lot – perhaps a temporary gravel one – along the central alley. He noted that even if the Kirtley building was demolished today, a paved lot there wouldn’t be ready until months after the chamber headquarters opens. Counting what the city paid for the Kirtley building – plus its promised contribution to the lot’s construction – using that site for parking would mean each space cost about $10,000, Alcott said.

Housing

The Housing Fund will get $300,000 from the city’s federal entitlement money to open a local office and establish a quarter-million-dollar pool to aid in financing affordable housing development on Bowling Green’s north side.

Commissioners voted unanimously to back the project, for which money was set aside in this year’s budget.

The Housing Fund began in Nashville, and in a decade there financed construction or renovation of more than 900 houses, according to a memo from city Housing and Community Development Director Alice Burks.

Mayor Elaine Walker said local banks are putting together a major investment to complement the city’s contribution.

Answering a question from Alcott, Burks said The Housing Fund’s money can aid financing work by both for-profit and nonprofit developers.

Downtown planning

Attorney Jim Parsons of the Covington firm of Taft, Stettinius & Hollister will be doing contract work for the city on downtown redevelopment deals under a contract approved last night.

Many more projects downtown are coming soon, and the city needs an expert in urban redevelopment financing and incentives on hand, City Manager Kevin DeFebbo said. Parsons has worked on similar projects in Newport and Covington, he said; he’ll be paid $175 per hour – the city’s regular limit for legal charges is $125 per hour – but won’t include travel time in his hourly rate, Walker said.

Departing commissioners

Tuesday was the last commission meeting for Alcott and Commissioner Delane Simpson; Alcott did not run for a second term, and Simpson was narrowly defeated Nov. 7. Walker presented them each with a large picture in thanks for their service.

Alcott said he has developed a new appreciation for the knowledge and dedication of city staff, and wants to tell the public that all issues before the city are considered in great detail.

Simpson said he was glad to serve, though the job was sometimes difficult. He’s sure Bowling Green will continue to grow, and offered to assist any way he can.