Landmark hotel in Jackson Ward collapses

The vacant, deteriorating Eggleston Hotel, which in its heyday hosted some of the nation's best-known black entertainers and athletes, is no more.

The hotel at Leigh and Second streets in Richmond's Jackson Ward partially collapsed yesterday about 5:45 a.m., and the rest of the building was demolished by early evening.

That corner "means so much to us as a race of people," said Neverett A. Eggleston Jr., whose father took over the hotel in the late 1930s and whose son owns the popular Croaker's Spot restaurant across the street.

The Eggleston Hotel was once one of only three in the city that accepted black guests, and its restaurant, Neverett's Place, was a popular gathering spot for African-Americans.

"Count Basie, Louis Armstrong, B.B. King, Fats Domino, Nat King Cole -- just keep on naming them. If they were black, they stayed with us," Eggleston said as he waited for demolition work to begin yesterday afternoon.

Renovation work had been scheduled to begin tomorrow on the landmark, which developers had planned to convert into apartments and retail space.

Eggleston's family still owns the hotel property, which had been vacant for about 10 years. Before Neverett A. Eggleston III, opened Croaker's Spot, he operated a deli in the hotel.

Developer Kelvin Hanson said the hotel was to have been renovated into eight apartments and 3,000 square feet of retail space. He said the building was badly deteriorated, with major structural problems with the roof and one wall.

Engineering work had been completed, and debris had been removed from inside the building.

Stabilization work was to begin tomorrow, with seven workers scheduled to install steel cables and beams. "We're glad this happened today, because they would have been in that building on Monday," Hanson said.

Pre-development work had begun about a year ago, and the $1.2 million project was scheduled to be complete by the end of this year.

Hanson estimated that it would be at least a year before work can begin at the site. But he said a new building will "commemorate what was there before."

The Eggleston family salvaged the hotel sign from the wreckage -- possibly to put on a new building on the site.

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No one was injured when the building collapsed, and the cause has not been determined, said Richmond Fire Marshal David Creasy.

"We may never know," he said, adding that the wind as well as the recent construction work could have contributed to the collapse.

Roy Eidem, operations manager for code enforcement for the city, said the building was under permit for stabilization and renovation work. He said he was in the building about a year ago and saw evidence of structural failure then.

"It's unfortunate. It's such a historical landmark," he said.

After the collapse, there was some hope yesterday that part of the building could be saved, Eidem said. But engineers for the owners decided that the building would have to be demolished.

"That wasn't the city's call," he said.

The building collapse forced residents of nearby homes to temporarily evacuate as a precaution. Listening devices inside the hotel yesterday morning picked up creaking sounds, an indication that the rest of building could collapse, Creasy said.

Richmond fire officials used dogs to search the wreckage shortly after the collapse after receiving reports that a homeless person was staying in the building. They found no one.

Several Leigh Street residents said they were unaware of the collapse until they saw emergency vehicles outside.

"I slept right through it," said Meg Seay, a hostess at Croaker's Spot who lives across the street. She said she didn't know anything had happened until she got a text message from her manager telling her not to come to work.

According to city property records, the hotel -- which had about 40 rooms -- was built in 1910. It was originally Miller's Hotel.

Eggleston Jr. recalls when the stone façade was added. Using a mold and a crushed-stone mix, a contractor worked on the sidewalk, making each stone individually.

"I grew up in that building," he said.

Baseball players Jackie Robinson and Satchel Paige once were guests. "We fed them, and we housed them," Eggleston said.

Singer James Brown and comedian Redd Foxx had extended stays at the hotel, and during World War II, the military housed black inductees there while they were being processed.

Eggleston said he remembers Lyndon B. Johnson campaigning for president from the hotel balcony. "He said it was a mighty nice place," Eggleston recalled.

Eggleston's son, looking yesterday at the wreckage, said it was hard to lose the building originally owned by his grandfather, but it was "good in the sense that we get the opportunity to do something new, to build on the land.

"It's going to be all good."

Contact Karin Kapsidelis at (804) 649-6119 or .

Staff writer Holly Prestidge contributed to this report.