Save the Zenke house

(For updates on the unlucky duplex, please go to that post on this site)
Let me get this straight...

The really short version:
Our home is an 1820's and 1830's wooden house, lovingly restored by our parents who were interior designers who were also very much in the forefront of historic preservation; Dad overseeing restoration projects at Blandwood and Carter's Tavern,  Mother serving as president of Preservation North Carolina and later being named, along with a few others, Director Emeritus.

2005:The Guilford County jail is expanding onto our block.
We try to avoid eminent domain by planning to move the houses out of downtown and develop an office building.
This plan evolves to swapping properties with the County because our land is closer to the old jail, and their land is in front of a National Landmark.
July 2007 We swap properties with the County.
2008 We watch the banks shut down lending nationwide just as we need to move
Dec 2008-2011 We relocate and renovate our home at our expense to an adjacent lot.
June 2009 We give our Queen Anne to Preservation Greensboro Development Fund which is then moved to Cedar Street with City help from neighborhood bond money. It is beautifully renovated and quickly leased.
October 2009 We get our brick duplex whisked out of the way at the last minute with City funds and place it on our land.  Plans are in place for us to proceed with that renovation at our expense as we finish the work on Mother's house.

We've done all this in the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression.

March 2011 - I've just finished the floors, my brother is installing phones, and Mother is planning her garden.
We get a letter from the County:

They didn't plan for parking.
They want their land back.

November 2005

THE MEDIUM VERSION:
In November of 2005, Guilford County announced that it would be expanding the downtown jail on our block, wrapping around us, building its eight story jail - sold to the public as five story - partly in front of  Blandwood Mansion, home of Governor John Motley Morehead, with the Italianate facade designed by Alexander Jackson Davis and built in 1844.  We did not oppose the concept of a new jail; the stories of the conditions and overcrowding were aweful, so we were not denying the need for it, simply its placement in a downtown that was struggling to "revitalize" itself.

September 1964

Fearing the invisible gun of eminent domain and the same fate of our uncle, Otto Zenke's, charming cottage, (see: Lost to Progress, the Otto Zenke Buildings) we proceeded to take steps to avoid that. Our attorney recommended we get a site plan developed that would, in theory, give us two years in which to plan and execute a commercial building.  If the County did execute eminent domain, then they would have to give us commercial rates for the property, not residential.  We had a sight plan developed for the Blandwood Avenue property in place by May of 2006.  This encompassed five lots with four houses, one of which was our home.

At the time, we decided we should simply move Mother's house out of downtown; at the time there were lots available in friendlier neighborhoods that would be a good safe place for Mother's house to be, away from government and institutional threat for good.  We were surrounded by government concrete that had developed around us and wanted to be near other old homes, trees and people.  In a better neighborhood, our house would be more highly valued whereas downtown it simply is a target for the government bulldozer.

With Mother's house off Blandwood Avenue, and hopefully the three other houses we owned given away and relocated in other neighborhoods, we would no longer have a strong emotional tie to Blandwood Avenue.  The next idea to evolve was to swap our four lots on Blandwood Avenue, which were close to the existing jail, for the County's parking lot on the corner of Washington and Edgeworth Streets that was directly across from Blandwood Mansion. That lot was also adjacent to an empty lot we already owned on Washington Street, which joined Mother's lot on Blandwood at right angles.

December 2006

Wecould transplant our plans for a commercial building to that site, reconfigured for the shape of that new lot.  Originally, our building was to be strictly office, but on Washington Street, with more active pedestrian traffic and nice view of Blandwood, we thought multi-use might be better, with first floor retail, with office space on the second and third floors, and residential on the fourth, overlooking the mansion.  The lay of the land invited parking underneath with ingress and egress at the back of the lot.  We hoped to become the human-friendly buffer zone between an incarceration complex and a National Landmark.

Blandwood Mansion, Governor Morehead's home, designed by A.J. Davis

If we swapped parcels with the County we would own all but a small corner apartment building, and of course the county land that would support the jail,185' of street frontage in front of Blandwood Mansion and the lot would be 27,000 square feet, enough to support a four story 65,000 square foot building, possibly a five story, 80,000 square foot building.  We went to the County, presented the swap idea, and they saw the sense of building the new jail closer to the old one and swapping properties.

We spent all of 2006, talking with developers and the banks who were highly supportive of the project at the time.  It fit the "highest and best use" concept so dear to bankers, insurers and downtown developers.  We had known that part of the Zenke brothers' great success was that they owned a lot of rental property that kept cash flow strong, something we were made keenly aware of after 9/11.  All of this seemed to make sense and would provide for us well into the future.

In July of 2007, we entered into the swap agreement with the County, by the end of August 2007 we were watching Countrywide Mortgage implode, which was the first domino of the Recession to come.  Increasingly, the banks and developers who had been supportive were getting increasingly hesitant in 2007, with cold feet not far behind.  At some point we considered backing out and were told by our attorney that we would be sued by the County for at least architectural fees, which, even at the early planning stages were somewhere between 2 and 4 million dollars.

The arborist was giving us the hugs.

In the winter of 2008 we got the news that it would cost $250,000 for utility work alone to move Mother's house to a better neighborhood - or divide the house in two, move it and stitch it back together.  We didn't want to cut the house in two while Mother was still living, if at all, so we considered that we should just move it onto the lot we already owned on Washington Street, which we did in December of 2008.  It trimmed down our proposed building but we had designed it so that it could be built in stages anyway.  In the end, it didn't matter what we wanted to do, divide or not, long move or short, by spring of 2008, the banks were shutting their doors in the nation's face and ours.

Blake Moving Company at work

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The County's role in all of this, in spite of the fact that we were trying to pro-actively cooperate with the situation, was totally adversarial and predatory.  Early on, we wrote an in depth letter to the Rhinoceros Times, not against the jail, but against the use of downtown property for such a use.  This, in a town, that for decades has tried to "get back" and "revitalize" its downtown.  It was miraculously published but there was no response.  No concurring support anywhere.  There was no point in fighting an ugly building that reinforced Greensboro's baseline architectural and developmental behavior, that for decades had destroyed the human elements of living and working downtown, in favor of the glass and concrete slabbed mega projects that gave people nothing interesting to walk by for blocks on end.  To clarify further, we only got the land swap out of the deal with the County; we paid for the move and renovation of Mother's house, with no help from the County.

Furthermore, we were three months behind schedule getting Mother's house moved because of the mover's schedule to move 6 houses in Raleigh and sudden rains midway through our project, so we were in breach of contract.  The County fined us $5,000.00 per month - $15,000.  And they insisted that they be paid, just before Christmas.

In the subsequent months of 2009, when we were trying to get our other two houses moved, they used any request for more time  to move the houses as an excuse to extract attorney's fees in one instance, and a utility easement for a storm drain and sewer line, that the architects and engineers for the jail had neglected to anticipate into the design.  So we lost 15 feet by 185 feet of property that we could build on.  We could park on it, but we couldn't build on it, and there was no extra compensation other than "extra time" to do what the County should have done for us, which was to help us move the houses, since they were the ones expanding in the first place.

One further dig at us occurred when we were trying to get the other two houses moved.  Amongst the stack of papers we signed in this transition period, one set was a "Confession of Judgement" which stated that if the houses did not move by the already extended date, that we would be responsible for the demolition expenses of those houses.  No need to go to court, that would be it, we would be liable.  We performed our duty and both houses moved off the property by the appointed date.  No issues remained.  We were done, finished, fait accomplis. finito!  They broke ground for the jail a couple of weeks later, and approximately two or three months after that, someone in the County, just for chuckles, filed the "Confession of Judgement" on us anyway, which is like a lien, and does wonders for one's credit report. We didn't find out about it for a year or more.  The County did eventually remove it.

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QUEEN ANNE #1
The City's role, unexpectedly, has been "good cop" compared to the County's "bad cop." We only say this  because 40 years ago, in the case of our uncle, they were anxious to bulldoze their way forward hand in hand with the County over our Uncle Otto's 1870's "raised cottage" style house that he had transformed into the garden spot of the city.  They have since started hiring people who actually study successful urban planning and the City has accumulated an impressive list of projects which enhance neighborhoods in positive, inviting ways rather than destructive, wasteful ways that disrespect history and the hand of human endeavor in architecture.  The City expressed interest in our three other buildings to purchase and move for redevelopment in nearby neighborhoods.  One prospect suggested he take the two narrow Queen Anne houses and in return he would give us office space for two years in which to locate our business.  The City would pay for the move and he would renovate them.  We worked with him for months, close to a year, but in the end, he couldn't sell a previous project to pay for the renovations, so he backed out in late 2007.  As the economy began to worsen, the offers of the City to purchase the structures faded as well.

Queen Anne I - demolished

As our time ran out, we had to tear down the first Queen Anne ourselves in order for the house mover to be able to get the long steel underneath our mother's house.  We found evidence of a fire from decades ago, which is why the owners then purchased asbestos laden Chrysotile sheetrock and exterior shingles.  Once that was removed it was a remarkably good frame structure underneath, with most of the wooden siding intact underneath, and would have fit on another lot on Cedar Street that was under consideration.  Pity.

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Queen Anne #2

 Queen Anne #2 prior to move

QUEEN ANNE #2
An article ran in the paper of October of 2007 which outlined our hopes to get the houses relocated and it produced about twenty-five calls, only three of which were viable.  We worked with those people to get them plugged into contractors and get estimates.  One of those people was Mahlon Honeycutt.

In March of 2008, we approached Preservation Greensboro Development Fund, headed by a very astute attorney, Marsh Prause.  We told him of our desire to get the houses off the block and asked for his organization's assistance.  Nothing much happened at first, but PGDF started working with Honeycutt on the Queen Anne, and later with Greensboro College on the brick duplex.

Honeycutt's project stalled out periodically, but was ultimately successful.  In September of 2009, the yellow Queen Anne made its six block trip to Cedar Street.  We gave the house to PGDF who in turn played contractor and ran interference with the City and County.  Upon completion, Honeycutt bought the house as a beautifully completed project.  It appraised for $150,000 in a low to middle income neighborhood in a down market, on a narrow lot and looks like it was born in the neighborhood.

Queen Anne #2 after move to Cedar Street 

It took four days to get it off the foundation and moved to the corner of our new lot, where it waited a few weeks while the new lot was prepared.  In mid September it took 9 hours to get it to Cedar Street.  It took barely four months to renovate and less than two months to lease.  It had taken a year and a half to get everyone to sign on the dotted line.

It was a tough project; Honeycutt backed out several times, frustrated with demands by the City and with trying to corral contractors.  At one point, the pen in Honeycutt's hand was hovering over the paper, and the County attorney, the fourth in five months, (the first one was fired and three quit, the second one stating he was "running away from the circus") threatened to sue Honeycutt if he signed.  The attorney stated that he himself had not reviewed the documents, even though his predecessors had been shuffling it forward.  He said he needed two weeks to review them and within a week, Mr. Honeycutt, exercising the good sense God gave him, refused to put up with such nonsense and backed out of the deal.  Mr. Honeycutt at the time was 84 years old, was sharp as a tack and could still mow his own grass, and last I heard, hadn't changed.

In the end, we even made lemonade out of those lemons.  It took us close to two months to get him back to the table, but in the end he got a better deal.  PGDF stepped in so that he didn't have to deal with the City or the County, and put together the renovation contracts and ran the project. 

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THE 1910 DUPLEX

See post of February 2013
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HOME: CURRENTLY:
Mother's house moved beautifully, and we have completed the exterior renovations and the interior renovations except for some minor wallpaper and plaster issues scattered throughout the house.

I had just finished stripping and waxing the floors when we received a letter from the County dated March 25, 2011, stating its "intent to purchase" the property, but with no offer stated. It was the polite precursor to eminent domain.  They "forgot" to plan for parking.  They had changed their minds and want their land back that we swapped with them in 2008!

They had built this jail, eliminating 200 of their own parking spaces, and failed to plan for meeting the parking needs of jurors, visitors, and three shifts of detention officers, cooks and other support staff.  Even the old jail had underground parking.

It was sold to the public as a five story building, but grew into eight with contractors' Recession pricing.

We spent months tracking down the right developer, one of the many that we interviewed five years ago when we were planning an office building, and working up a proposal.  We don't think our lot is the optimum size and shape for a parking deck, and there are alternative sights near by.  However, we don't want to spend the rest of our lives expecting letters periodically from the County that have highly catastrophic consequences.

Our land was supposed to be developed to create a steady income stream but the Recession stalled all plans.  Banks and developers alike are still in hiding, licking their wounds.  No one could get money for commercial or residential projects.  After the receipt of the March 2011 letter from the County the idea emerged to go back tot he original plan, with a twist: offer to build an administration building for the sheriff's department, a government tenant, which the banks might like.  Then move Mother's house again and the duplex, but to appropriate neighborhoods where we originally intended, before the banks closed up shop.  Selling now does nothing but generate ill timed taxes in one year instead of spaced out over twenty years - and at a time when the market is at rock bottom.

We could build a 60-80,000 square foot building now, get the house out now, or build a 50-70,000 thousand square foot building now and wait to get the house out later.  Both proposals have advantages and disadvantages for both parties, but we lean towards getting our home out now and getting on with our lives.

If we built the administration building for the County, that frees them to vacate the building that our uncle, Otto Zenke, built in 1969.  We don't want to see it go, but the fate of that building was sealed when Otto's estate, something we had no control over, sold it to the County to extract as much cash from the estate as possible.  Its fate has also been sealed by two horrendous floods, the first of which flooded out not only the 7 foot sub-basement, but also went up 2 feet into the ground floor after a summer storm dumped six inches of rain in less than an hour.  An exterior drain couldn't keep up, a pond formed and broke through the basement wall of the older section of the building.  Subsequently, we hear termites have been found as well.

One of the sheriff''s staff told us years ago that, "the only reason they bought the place was to tear it down later." The best that can be done now is to remove the panelling and transplant it into rooms for the new building and hopefully get the County to give the painted murals out of Otto's office to the Greensboro Historical Museum to someday serve as a display area for his 13 miniature rooms which are already there.  Most of the panelling and the murals transferred out of his original home/studio at 215 Eugene anyway so they can be moved again.

With those design elements removed, the building becomes nothing but block and concrete and they can replace it with a parking deck large enough and central enough to the jail and the courts that will support this burgeoning judicial-industrial complex.  If they want to jump start the deck they can move into the empty Edgeworth building while the new administration building is finished.  When vacated it can be sold, along with the Independence Center, and those properties could be part of the tax base, as our building would be.

Built by a private developer, the project's initial design costs are considerably less, offsetting the lower interest rates paid by government, by more than enough to make it attractive to the government clients who have built forty or so office buildings with this firm.  With this plan, the County gains facilities concentrated over two solid blocks, without any conflict from the YMCA, the City, Preservation Greensboro, or us, and at a savings of time, money and effort for all as well. Everybody gets what they need now and for the future.

We presented the plan to the County in mid February.  March 15, the County attorney called to say all the commissioners had turned it down.  If it had been any other developer/contractor they would have jumped all over it.

In talks with the leadership at Blandwood Mansion/Preservation Greensboro, they have expressed their concern that should the County execute the drastic and negative act of eminent domain on our property for a parking deck now, we only have to wait ten or fifteen years before the County considers expanding the jail yet again to provide a stark contrast between our cultural past and our future, and if they receive no federal funding for their future jail expansion it does not have to be reviewed by the National Park Service due to the jail's proximity to a National Landmark.  (Only if Federal funds are used is a project subject to NPS review.)

Preservation Greensboro has also indicated that they would welcome an office building that we had designed, over a parking deck, but we even discussed ways that parking decks can be designed better, so it's not out of the question.  If parking is what the County needs for the public good, then we can certainly look at fulfilling that accommodation for them, probably at less cost than if the County built it.  We can currently accommodate 35-40 cars and with the duplex removed we could handle 50, possibly 60 cars, conservatively.  Building just a single level deck above that, we could handle over 100 vehicles, and of course more if we build higher.

Subsequently, we returned to the County in April 2012 with a proposal to park their vehicles on our lot as it exists, or plan for building a deck to serve their anticipated needs.  We could build a private deck, but in these economic times, we would need to have a contract for parking from the County, or the City, or both.  By parking for 3 shifts, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, the economic engine is in place to do what we need to do to safely, sensibly, move our home and build the deck. We are trying to work with the County to solve our respective problems for the long term in a positive manner rather than a destructive one.

2003 - Blandwood in the green block, our 4 houses in green to the north, before the move, YMCA lot: upper left, Governmental Center: upper right corner, old jail: top right center

2010 - Blandwood in the green block, our 2 houses moved to face it and the jail under construction                

Further reading:

Adrienne Skye Roberts, 2009
Memory in Place, Part II, Where This House Once Stood,
http://www.artpractical.com/feature/memory_in_place_part_2

Miriam Farris Exum, 2010
UNC-G Planning Law Paper, Hello Guilford County Jail, Good-bye Blandwood Avenue

www.hpe.com/view/full_story/17902087/article-Parking-plans-still-unsettled?instance=homefirstleft#cb_post_comment_17902087

Robert Caro, The Power Broker 1975 (Robert Moses and the building-&tearing down-of NYC)
(every town has one)    http://www.robertcaro.com/the-power-broker

The Greenest Building
http://thegreenestbuildingmovie.com

Builders of Hope
http://www.buildersofhope.org

http://www.edcone.com, search "jail sentence"  March 2012

Michelle Alexander, 2010

The New Jim Crow

http://thenewjimcrow.com

http://greensboro.rhinotimes.com/Articles-Articles-c-2012-09-26-213240.112113-Board-Kicks-Old-House-To-Curb.html

http://www.news-record.com/content/2012/11/10/article/new_commissioners_new_direction#nrcBlk_ArticleBody
Greensboro News & Record November 11, 2012:
New Commissioners, New Direction: by Joe Killian
2nd section "Bond debt, school projects and the future"
(3rd paragraph: "Many have questioned whether the commissioners should have suspended the bond projects after the economic downturn, whether or not voters had approved the projects.")
(12th paragraph: Tom Phillips: "'They stubbornly continued to borrow money while blaming the $1.1 billion debt on the voters,' Phillips said."

Gee, who knew?

Please visit our website at www.zenkedesign.com