RFP Staff
♦ Downtown Salisbury Inc. claims to have a buyer for the decrepit queen of the South Main Badlands: the Empire Hotel. Friday DSI Inc. is calling a press conference on the 2nd floor of the Gateway Building at 204 East Innes in Salisbury. Allegedly the buyer will be present at the event.
Prior to noon Thursday no new deed for the Empire Hotel property was registered at the Register of Deeds.
Conjecture swirls as to who the alleged buyer is. Some believe the City of Salisbury may take DSI Inc. off the hook for the Empire and dump it on the city taxpayer’s backs. Other conjecture considers that DSI, Inc. might unload the building on a “Judas” Developer who faces the thankless task of trying to dump off a decrepit building in dire need of over a half million dollars in abatement for toxic chemicals from a former laundry, lead dust, and mold.
Maybe they actually got someone legitimate with money enough to revamp the Empire on a high-risk venture?
The aged hotel’s interior needs to be gutted. What is left is a shell that hasn’t had human lifeforms hunkering down its rooms since 1963 when the Empire closed its doors as a flophouse. The costs in abatement and gutting the Empire would make most buyers and developers back off.
Demolishing the Empire and turning it into a much needed parking lot has much appeal.
THE EMPIRE HOTEL, QUEEN OF THE SOUTH MAIN BADLANDS
