Richmond official blames hotel’s collapse on owner’s inaction

Williams: Eggleston collapse a sign of Jackson Ward’s problems

Richmond's top planning and building official blames the collapse of the historic Eggleston Hotel on its owners' slow response to years of urging from the city to repair the blighted building.

Rachel O. Flynn, director of community development, said yesterday that the hotel's collapse Saturday and subsequent demolition was the result of delay in securing the dilapidated Jackson Ward landmark from weather and decay. The city set a deadline for the work to begin a little more than a year ago, but it never happened.

"They waited too long," Flynn said. "This is what happens when you don't take action."

But the building's owner, Neverett A. Eggleston Jr., said the city shares the blame, along with financial institutions that he says make it hard for black-owned businesses to get financing for construction and renovation projects.

"The fault can be either way, either us or the city," said Eggleston, whose father, Neverett A. Eggleston Sr., took over the hotel at the corner of Leigh and Second streets in the 1930s. "For me, and us as a race, just finding financing for anything is holy hell."

"It's really an uphill battle for us," he said.

The Eggleston Hotel was a magnet for black entertainers and athletes during decades of racial segregation. Guests included musical luminaries such as Duke Ellington, Ray Charles and James Brown, as well as sports idols including Muhammad Ali, Jackie Robinson and Joe Louis. It had been vacant for more than a decade, Eggleston said.

Richmond had cited the building for unsafe conditions in 2005, according to city building records. But the city began pushing hard for repairs in late 2007, after its owners sold the property to a partnership that planned to stabilize the structure and redevelop it.

City records indicate that the partnership, Second Street Renaissance Associates, is led by Eggleston, but its registered agent is Kelvin G. Hanson. Hanson's Jackson Ward firm, The Hanson Co. LLC, was chosen to handle the project.

A meeting on Oct. 17, 2007, involving Eggleston, Hanson and city officials, documented the building's hazards, according to an unsigned memorandum in the city's building records.

The building's roof had collapsed, along with parts of the second and third floors that had pushed debris against an exterior wall. The wall was in danger of falling if the load shifted because of weather or human action, the memo stated.

Hanson met with city officials in the following months to develop a detailed work plan for stabilizing the hotel, which was built in 1910. The stabilization plan was delayed because of the contract engineer's health problems, but the city pushed the company to begin construction for the stabilization project by April 1, 2008.

"Due to this setback, and the fragile nature of the building, please proceed all the more diligently with your stabilization planning phase," wrote Arthur Dahlberg, who was Richmond's building commissioner at the time. "Then be prepared to initiate immediately these plans to remove this safety hazard from the community and to save the Eggleston Hotel."

Flynn, who oversees the building permit and enforcement operations as part of her department, said yesterday that Eggleston didn't follow through on the commitment until this year.

She said the city could have invoked its ordinance for combating spot blight by condemning the historically valuable building and reselling it for restoration, or doing the work itself.

"This was a classic candidate for spot blight," she said. "It just never got to that point."

Eggleston said the partnership was struggling to raise the money to pay for the work. "That was the big problem, yes," he said yesterday.

Hanson planned to convert the building into apartments and retail space in a $1.2 million project that was to begin this week and be completed by the end of the year. Debris had been cleared from within the building, and crews were scheduled to begin stabilizing the structure with steel cables and beams yesterday.

The building fell early Saturday morning. No one was injured, and the cause of the collapse remains unknown.

"I doubt very seriously we'll ever get a cause," Richmond fire Lt. Shawn Jones said yesterday.

Contact Michael Martz at (804) 649-6964 or .