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The wooden mullions were rotting, some of the panes were broken and many had peeling streaks of white paint put on at one time to block out the sun.
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Owners of the old Rubber Mills building have replaced the bottom row of windows of the building.
Erik Daily |
Members of the Hass family —incorporated as The Fenigor Group LLC, which bought the La Crosse landmark last year — invited the commission to tour it Thursday so they would understand their dilemma regarding the windows that wrap around the building.
At issue is the company’s recent renovation of the first floor windows, which is a violation of a historic preservation covenant on the property. When commission members learned the owners were changing the front facade by replacing the old windows with a combination of new windows and colored split-face concrete block, they asked them to stop. The new treatment, which runs much of the first floor, reduces the windows by two-thirds.
The windows are part of the building’s unique character, and changes made to them violate the covenant that protects the historic nature of the southern and western facades, commission members say.
There are so many windows that a state building inspector has told them the building will be 7 percent below the state’s energy efficiency code even after the windows are replaced with modern, more efficient ones, say the owners.
The Hass family wants to convert the main building to space for offices and light manufacturing and rename it Mid-America Commercial Court.
LaCrosse Footwear, which opened in 1897, closed in June, 2001 when the company’s headquarters were relocated to Portland, Ore., that year. In August 2001, the company sold the manufacturing plant, factory outlet building and some equipment to Tarkman Associates Inc. for $1.1 million. In 2005, the Fenigor Group bought most of the complex, except for the portion now owned by Pearl Street Brewery, for about $1.2 million, said Terry Hass, facilities manager.
In November, 2004, Tarkman Associations agreed to the covenant, which says no part of the south and west facades can be removed or demolished and no physical or structural change or change in color or material made without the commission’s approval.
Nothing has been done on the renovation since early fall, awaiting the commission’s decision. The commission could ask the owners to remove the windows and split cement block on the first floor, said chairman Barbara Kooiman. But she and the other members said they want to work with the owners so the building can be restored and spaces leased.
The Fenigor Group isn’t opposed to a historic designation, Hass said, but he hopes he he can obtain commission approval to replace all the windows on the front like the ones they did on the first floor so the building facade can have a uniform look.
“We think it looks good,” he said Friday. “We are going to work with the commission as best we can to come to a happy solution for everybody.”
The company spent between $3,000 and $4,000 each on 20 sections of the front, Hass said. No windows were replaced on the west side, he said.
The Fenigor Group hopes to move the La Crosse Mail Center, which it also owns, from Causeway Boulevard to about 8,000 square feet of the building, early next year, Hass said. He said that will show how the building can be renovated to attract other businesses to lease the remaining approximately 267,000 square feet in the front buildings.
Joan Kent can be reached at (608) 791-8221 or jkent@lacrossetribune.com.
Typical wrote on Dec 15, 2006 2:39 PM: