RFP Staff
♦ Just as we began to believe that all the last merriment was squeezed out the Empire Hotel, new information showed up at the Rowan Free Press offices.
It’s hard to fathom that a group of bankers, even Salisbury bankers, got roped into loaning money on a decaying flophouse that’s not been opened to the public since 1963 or that an all-out push once occurred to get the school system’s Central Office built on 329 S. Main. It was believed by the Salisbury mind-hive that the Central Office would attract investment to the Empire. But we have to pinch ourselves, this is Salisbury–home to the Fibrant debacle, the notorious water pipeline that quit halfway to Statesville, and heaven forbid even “traffic calming” on East Innes.
Recently it was learned downtown supporters of the Empire Hotel will call on artists, businesses, and community groups to lift up the block by using the windows at the hotel on South Main Street. The rules for visual art to be submitted are that an artistic window display must stay up for 3 months. The art program will continue until a developer purchases the Empire Hotel from Downtown Salisbury Inc. This could become an extremely long lasting art show unless officers from the Sheriff Office interrupt it for an auction.
But given the advanced state of decay, the Empire Hotel could very well suffer the same fate as the Kilby Hotel in High Point, that collapsed last week. If the Empire was insured, its collapse might be a way out for Downtown Salisbury Inc. given the Bat-Tel’s inglorious sales record to date. Someone once suggested “South Bronx Lightening”, but that might get DSI on the Fire Department’s radar.
It’s not over yet–there one other outside possibility for condemnation. The city of Salisbury identified 16 sites possibly having environmental contamination, including the Empire Hotel. Quite obviously the Empire, being opened in 1855, is a bad bet for being constructed over a gas station. The best the Rowan Free Press “think tank” could come up with was the possibility of bat guano. An unlikely candidate for environmental concerns.
If you’ve ever fancied being the owner of the Monster of South Main, here’s your chance at vicarious ownership. Print out a copy of the Empire Hotel’s deed and proudly lord it over your friends:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2E5Ew6OLdElOHVJb2lfb0E4TG8/edit?usp=sharing
Don’t get too carried away with ownership. The deed has no more value than a square inch of Yukon Territory found in a cereal box or for that matter the actual hotel.
