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STAFF REPORT CONCERNING*' ! FOR OF APPROPRIATENESS # Date: October 5, 2010 Application Number: 2010-1004A Property Location: 632 Portage Architectural Style/Date/Architect or Builder: Free Classic/1902 Property Owner: Pamela and Gary Salustro Landmark or District Designation: Chapin Park Rating: Non -Contributing DESCRIPTION OF STRUCTURE/ SITE: This is a 2 %z storey square building with brick and frame construction. The lower level is divided into two store fronts with plate glass windows and perma-stone facades, the second storey is divided into two apartments with an entrance LaMonte and an entrance at the side yard between 628 and 632 Portage. The second storey is covered with vinyl siding. There is a separate covered entry into each store with aluminum and glass doors. There is a front gable bay area with a central window that has been covered in vinyl siding and two gabled dormers on the south of the roof. The roof is hipped with three tab asphalt shingles. The windows are aluminum and doors at the sides are metal security doors. ALTERATIONS: The building's store fronts were remodeled .in 1952 and 1955. The doors, windows, siding and roofing materials are not original to the structure. APPLICATION ITEMS: Demolish Building. Outlived the usefulness of a commercial building. No parking available. We will level the building and landscape, minimally with grass. DESCRIPTION OF PROPOSED PROJECT. Demolition of the building then landscaping the vacant lot. STANDARDS AND GUIDELINES: V. GENERAL A. Buildings in the district should not be demolished except where a building poses a threat to the public safety, and demolition is the only alternative. Documentation of interior and exterior features of the original buildings, especially homes rated as historically significant, is encouraged. Measured drawings and photographs may be submitted to the Historic Preservation Commission for safekeeping and future reference. STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends approval. This is a non-contributing 4,856 square foot (excludes basement) commercial/residential building that had a fire on the second floor in 2010 that has caused extensive damage to the roof system and the structure. Per the insurance company there is no access permitted to the second floor or the damaged half of first floor. This building is situated at an angle on the corner of LaMonte and Portage; there are no dedicated parking spaces for either the tenets or commercial interests and their patrons. A variance for the required 5 spaces for a commercial structure was declined in 2010. In 1902 there was enough foot traffic in addition to mass transit from the surrounding neighborhoods to sustain both commercial concerns; that is not the situation today. The building is not viable raider the current Code as a commercial structure as it lacks the necessary parking, or as a residential structure as it also lacks the required second floor emergency egress. The estimated rehabilitation costs from the owners' insurance company is about $201,000.00 which is more than double the structure's assessed value on the tax roles of $94,600.00. This is a large structure on a very small, awkward comer lot in what is now a residential area that no longer supports a mixed use.