RFP Staff
♦ Sources informed the Rowan Free Press that a consortium of major Downtown Salisbury nonprofits concluded that the Maxwell Chambers Trust demanded almost twice the price they were willing to pay for the property bounded by West Fisher, South Church, West Innes and South Jackson Streets. Sources allege the Maxwell Chambers Trust’s $3 Million Dollar price tag ended any interest in investing in a down payment for the block and to pull in donations from the Salisbury community at large. It appears charitable giving, even in the fabulous “City of Make Believe”, has its boundaries. Greed has limits in a city whose bond rating is deemed edgy.
Now the Downtown nonprofit consortium is focusing its efforts on an alternate vision. Talk now is focused now on the West End community around Livingstone College. The plan, not yet fully crystalized, involves razing the areas many vacant and timed-out houses and replacing them with more modern and livable homes. Replicating what the “East Lake Foundation” did in Atlanta is a strong possibility for the consortium’s new direction.
With the Maxwell Chambers “no can do” $3 million dollars asking price fading in the rearview mirror, the nonprofit consortium’s “seed money” is headed for a more worthy goal. With the 200 block of West Innes out of the picture, it appears there’s nothing to shore up the sinking Downtown donut hole. Where is “seed money” to be found for the tramp Empire Hotel? Nowhere. When reality sinks in for those somewhat grounded in its more terrestrial form, they will note the Empire best be converted to a parking lot.
Maxwell Chambers Trust Form 990 “Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax”:
https://app.box.com/s/atkywyqczslazaz4315px9ikj639pnnr
A previous article on the property in more hopeful days:
