Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 28, 1992 TAG: 9201280306
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DANIEL HOWES BUSINESS WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
WHAT NEXT FOR HOTEL EARLE?
Historic Hotel Earle, a one-time haven for prostitution and illegal whiskey that was gutted by fire months ago, now appears a victim of insurance industry inertia and the gnawing real estate recession.And right now, she's not pretty:
Sheets of particle board, festooned with bright yellow signs declaring the building unsafe, cover ground-floor doors and windows - as required by law. A padlock and thin chain hang from the charred front door facing Salem Avenue and the railroad tracks.
A tattered and faded green awning hangs limply above the old Belmont Shoe I have some serious doubts, as much as we want to save the Hotel Earle . . . that we can save it. David Saunders Principal in Market Towne Properties Inc., which owns the hotel Hospital, Roscoe "Buck" Farmer's livelihood until water damage after the fire forced him to close his shop facing Williamson Road.
The roof is gone, the winter sky visible through the shattered third-floor windows. A blackened door opening three floors above the 8-foot alley separating the Earle from the old Shenandoah Hotel hangs by a lower hinge, as if smashed open by firefighters.
The old landmark is an eyesore, particularly for the Roanoke developer who saw his plans to resurrect an entire block of the City Market district disappear in flames one morning in August.
"I have some serious doubts, as much as we want to save the Hotel Earle . . . that we can save it," said David Saunders, a principal in Market Towne Properties Inc., the hotel's owner. "Nobody hates it as an eyesore more than I do, especially since we improved the other end of the block" known as MarketPlace Center.
"Right now, we don't know anything," he said. "Until the [insurance] adjusters get straight on the loss, we don't know what we've got."
Even though a settlement may be days away, as one adjuster involved in the negotiations said Monday, there seems little chance that Saunders and his partner, magazine publisher J. Richard Wells, could persuade a lender to back a renovation project in Roanoke's downtown historic district - at least right now.
"There's not a bank in the Roanoke Valley that would look at that deal [even if it were] 100 percent leased," Saunders said. "They just don't exist.
The developers and city officials still hope there is a way to resurrect the hotel, which building inspectors say remains structurally sound. "It's an important corner building and I'd hate to see it lost for something like a surface parking lot," said Evie Gunter, a city planner.
"Believe it or not, that building is structurally sound," said Ron Miller, Roanoke's building commissioner. "It looks bad, smells bad and all that, but it's a very good building."
Trouble is, independent insurance adjusters hired by the Roanoke developers and the British firms who insured the hotel still are negotiating a settlement - a process that often can take several months. The insurer's adjuster received a "demand on the loss" only just before Christmas.
"I know of no investigative person [who] would indicate a problem," said Dwight Inge, a manager for Lindsey Morden Inc., the Richmond-based adjuster representing the British insurers. Yet, "most every element of this loss is unusual in that it's in the historic district," and determining the value of destroyed workmanship can prove a tedious process.
"I thought it would have been done already, but apparently it's a little more complex than when your house burns down," said Doug Wilson, Saunders' Roanoke attorney. "Everything that was posed as a safety hazard has been taken care of . . . by the owners of the building."
Said Saunders: "I hope the real estate market will improve to the extent we can do some things. Everybody's nervous about Hotel Roanoke, though no one worries about the City Market - which is our [downtown] tourist attraction."