Last April, Scot Fisher, manager of Ani DiFranco’s Righteous Babe Records, saw some men chipping away at the landmark building across form his Sidway Building office in the 700 block of Main Street. The men said they were salvaging some decorative terra cotta prior to demolition. Whoa!

Fisher knew who to call. He had two quarters. One was spent calling the Preservation Coalition. The Coalition had been tracking this building and its neighbor, the so-called Schmidt’s Building, since it learned in 1997 of a proposal to build housing there. (See Aug.-Nov. 1997 Coalition Report, “City pushes landmark demos...”). Both were built by the Pierce Arrow Motor Car Co. 752 Main came first, in 1903. It housed a ground floor showroom and offices above. Repairs were done out back. In 1923, the service department was expanded into a new building next door at 734-750 Main.

The Coalition met with the new Deputy Commissioner of Community Development, David Pawlik, in September of 1997 and tried to dissuade him from his demolition plan and informed him of the process set up to deal with requests to demolish landmark buildings. Under the normal, legal process of demolition, permits must be requested through the City Preservation Board ( not related to the Preservation Coalition and its board). Pawlik (and the previous Commissioner of Housing, Tony Marconi), it was later stated in open court, advised and encouraged the owners to evade the permit process.

When Fisher called, the Coalition knew it had to stop the demo in court and find out if, in fact, a city-commissioned report on the buildings which concluded demolition was necessary was accurate. Righteous Babe made a significant donation, which the Coalition used to hire a lawyer and an architect, engineer, and cost estimator.

Pawlik (and the previous Commissioner of Housing, Tony Marconi), it was later stated in open court, advised and encouraged the owners to evade the permit process.

The demolition was successfully stayed. The Coalition's architectural consultant, Bero Associates, with broad preservation experience, estimated that restoring the entire shell of the Pierce Arrow Building – roof, walls, windows, terra cotta, – would come to $309,000.

The Coalition also secured a rendering to illustrate the Coalition's proposal for the two buildings, based on the findings of the Bero report. The Coalition concluded that the interior of the wood-framed Schmidt’s Building was, indeed, so deteriorated that it was not economically feasible to save it. Instead, the facade could be saved, creating a courtyard that could be used for parking, which could finance the stabilization The courtyard could always be infilled by inserting a modern steel-framed building at a later time.

752 main, on the other hand, needed just $10,000 of roof work to buy three years’ time.

The city then hired the same firm that had concluded in 1997 that the buildings had to be demolished to study the feasibility of renovating them or demolishing them for new police station This firm came up within a shell cost, “by owner,” of $2,694,000 — 65% more than the Bero Report. So while the Coalition concept, coupled with rehab tax credits, offers hope, demolition artists still lurk.