Empty spot likely to linger after fire

City officials have vowed the two buildings that burned on Main Street last weekend won’t become another Hole ‘ an eyesore that lingers for decades.

I admire the city’s stance. And, while I’m in the process of handing out compliments, I give the city high praise for its entire handling of this Main Street disaster.

This includes the first-rate work of fireman to contain the blaze, the quick decision to level the structure with a wrecking block almost as soon as the fire was extinguished, and the decision to have city employees clean up the mess as soon as fire investigators and insurance agents are done.

While the property won’t be another Hole, it likely won’t be anything else either. I believe the property will be empty for years and years to come. I make this prediction without benefit of a crystal ball, although I really wish the newspaper would put one in the budget.

For starters, put yourself in the shoes of the two property owners. If you were building a new building, would you put it on Main Street? I wouldn’t. In fact, Main Street might be the last place I would build in McMinnville, with the exception of that part of Beersheba Street that’s the poster child for blight.

I already have enough people telling me what to do in my life without building on Main Street. I don’t need an Historic Zoning Commission monitoring my every move telling me what kind of door, what type of windows, and what color paint I can use. Meanwhile, there’s plywood over other downtown windows.

Anyone who builds on Main Street would have a high-dollar building in a low-dollar district. Most surrounding buildings are in very poor condition, like the old Dinty Moore, the old McAmis Furniture, the old Lively Building, and the old Fraley’s. I could go on.

Plus, your new building would look out of place next to so many old buildings. Unless you convinced the contractor to make your new building look old, and that defeats the purpose of a new building if you ask me.

So just about anyone can understand the reasons the property owners would not want to rebuild there. The next question is why doesn’t the city buy the property and do something with it?

The easy answer is the city is not in the real estate business. It’s better to have property on the tax rolls than under government ownership.

And what would the city do with the property? If I’m going to buy something, I generally have a use for it. I can see no possible benefit of the city owning 207 and 209 E. Main Street.

McMinnville officials just bought a new city hall. There’s a fire department about a block away. I doubt that would make a suitable location for a new sewer treatment plant.

The city has owned what used to be The Hole since 1999. The only thing that deal has produced is one really nice lawn, and an endless cycle of arguments.

Should it be a splash park, or a parking garage? Should it be an amphitheater, or should the city sell the land to a developer?

If anyone wants property on Main Street, take your pick. There are 11 unoccupied buildings of all shapes and sizes in the downtown retail district from Chancery to Sparta streets. There’s no reason to build something new.

It’s for those reasons I believe we’ll be looking at an empty spot on Main Street for quite some time. Cook’s Department Store burned 40 years ago and there’s still nothing there.

But if I’m wrong, it will give me another reason to push for that crystal ball.

James Clark is editor of the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191.