321 E 5th Street: It's coming down!

[sheclown]

He bought 1528 Walnut in February of 2009.

Thread on this house:

http://www.metrojacksonville.com/forum/index.php/topic,9306.0.html

[Springfielder]

I knew about the Walnut purchase, didn't know he also purchased the 5th street house too

[sheclown]

...and then asked for them to be demolished shortly afterward.  I don't get it.  Aren't there enough empty lots around?  Why buy a lot with a house on it and incur a demo lien?

[Springfield Girl]

The reason Louise wrote that letter is because the house had been approved for demo before Mr. Vinas bought it. He bought because it was approved and he planned to build a new home. After he bought the house, Mr. McEachin made him come in front of the commission and tried to start the process over. Mr. Vinas was very upset because he had talked to several people in city depts. before he bought who told him the house was coming down. He would have never bought if the house was not going to be demoed and he felt that he got screwed in the deal. Just some background on what actually happened and why Louise got involved to help the owner.

[Springfield Girl]

Stephen, this is what happened, right or wrong. Just sharing the facts.

[iloveionia]

Okay.

I hate that letter.  It speaks to demolishing historic structures.
It makes me mad too.
Regardless of the different sides and facts, it's angering.

I'm disappointed this owner responded they way he did to me in regards to help.

BUT.

What's done is done.  Louise is gone.  The new Executive Director, Brenda, has spoken that she/SPAR are for preservation.  We can't go back and change the past.  But we can work with what we've got today to make change for the better; specifically the preservation of our homes.

AND

Preservation SOS is working diligently every day to save our remaining homes.  Good things are happening.  Let's not lose sight of that.

[Springfielder]

The reason Louise wrote that letter is because the house had been approved for demo before Mr. Vinas bought it. He bought because it was approved and he planned to build a new home. After he bought the house, Mr. McEachin made him come in front of the commission and tried to start the process over. Mr. Vinas was very upset because he had talked to several people in city depts. before he bought who told him the house was coming down. He would have never bought if the house was not going to be demoed and he felt that he got screwed in the deal. Just some background on what actually happened and why Louise got involved to help the owner.

That may have been the case for this particular house, of which I don't recall seeing one of those green demo stickers on it....anyway, he also tried to get the one on Walnut taken down...and was pissed when I sent my letter which helped to stop that one. The green demo sign on that one was for the front porch which was rebuilt by a previous owner, and they did a horrible job. The porch needed to be removed, but certainly not the house.

[sheclown]

I've requested the HPC minutes.  The background on this house is very important.  It may come down tomorrow based on what happened yesterday.

[sheclown]

It should never be okay to buy a house in a historic district just to tear it down.  This is currently happening in Springfield and in Ortega. 

The city is full of empty lots.  Let's use those up first.

How many developers have stretched out their elaborate plans, bought existing structures, knocked them down, and then had their plans fall through?  This scenario happens again and again and again.

Drive down East 8th Street.  It used to have commercial buildings lining the street.  Great plans for wonderful infill!  Nadda.

And infill is inferior to truly historic structures. 

Lost on both accounts.

[Demosthenes]

I've requested the HPC minutes.  The background on this house is very important.  It may come down tomorrow based on what happened yesterday.

What happened yesterday?

[sheclown]

Oh, I'm sorry de -- I was speaking of yesterday in terms of the larger recent past.

[strider]

The reason Louise wrote that letter is because the house had been approved for demo before Mr. Vinas bought it. He bought because it was approved and he planned to build a new home. After he bought the house, Mr. McEachin made him come in front of the commission and tried to start the process over. Mr. Vinas was very upset because he had talked to several people in city depts. before he bought who told him the house was coming down. He would have never bought if the house was not going to be demoed and he felt that he got screwed in the deal. Just some background on what actually happened and why Louise got involved to help the owner.

What is very interesting to me is that it has taken a year for this “explanation” to come out.  This explanation  was never posted in the original e-mail thread.  And now it is being posted by the person on the HPC that has been quoted as saying “All the houses worth doing (in Springfield) have already been done”.  Springfield Girl, you have voted for demolition much more often that you spoke about saving a house.  Why is that exactly?

As what has transpired the last few years over the demolition of the houses in Springfield is brought to the surface, the pieces are starting to fit together like in a murder mystery, the victims of which are the houses, a few good people and ultimately this entire community.   It is a tale of lies and deceit, of greed and personal favors.

The owner of this particular house, Richard Vinas, has been described as a Restorer by Chris Farley.  Now he is being defended by Springfield’s representative on the HPC, who is also defending Louise DeSpain, former ED of SPAR Council, while she does it.  And , we need to ask ourselves, why are these two, who are supposed to be for the houses, defending someone who wants to tear them down?  Remember, Mr. Vinas has at least two he wants gone.

Looking at the more recent HPC minutes of this house as posted on page one of this thread, the city was not  about to tear this house down.  How do I know that?  If it had been, Mr. Vinas would not have had to take it to the HPC for permission himself.  We recently lost a house on Hubbard Terrace, taken by the owner under the city’s HPC approval for demolition.  Over a year after Mr. Vinas tried to get permission for demolition, this house is still not the menace to society some would like us to believe, it is still very restorable. Frankly, as a contractor myself, I would say that when Mr. Vinas purchased this home, he could have made it a decent little rental very affordably.  Instead, with the support if not the permission  from Louise DeSpain, and Springfield Girl, he preferred to just tear it down. Thankfully, the historical department knew what was going on and stopped it and got the wrath of Louise DeSpain for doing it.

Springfield Girl, you are obviously a large part of the problem here.  You do not get it.  You feel you can pick and choose who gets to demolish a house and who doesn’t . You defend the indefensible and so therefore, I feel it is time you stepped down from the HPC and let someone else get on board who will recognize that not all the houses worth doing have been done.  Who will recognize that only by saving every house that can be saved can we continue to be a real historic district, not just in name, but in spirit.

[acme54321]

Well said Strider 

[Springfield Chicken]

Looking at the sales history of this home creates a lot of questions in my mind.  It sold in October '03 for $42K, November '03 for $77.3K, September '05 for $111K, and June '06 for $149.4K.  Then Fannie Mae got it for $100 in June of '08, and the last transaction I found shows it sold to Peoples First of Jacksonville in May of '09 for $23K.

That's a lot of activity for one home unless there was flipping involved.  Examples like this make we wish the "boom" had never touched Springfield.  It did as much harm as it did good in many ways.

[sheclown]

Yes, his company, People's First of Jacksonville, bought it in May of 2009 for $23k