Kenyon Hall will stand for the time being, but it won’t be a cheap victory for the Lyon County Historical Society.
District Judge John Sanderson issued a temporary injunction Friday, meaning the former College of Emporia building cannot be torn down until a final ruling is made on its demolition permit.
But Sanderson also ruled that plaintiffs Steve Hanschu and the Lyon County Historical Society would have to come up with a $107,045 bond — the amount that owner Markowitz-Mitchell LLC estimated it would lose by delaying demolition until spring.
Sanderson warned that the waiting could go on longer than that. Either side could appeal his ruling on the permit, he said, and then appeal again to the Kansas Supreme Court. Potentially, he said, the case could drag on for 2 1/2 years.
“I would say the damages estimated by Mr. (Rick) Mitchell are conservative,” Sanderson said. “But that’s the only evidence I have.”
The Emporia City Commission gave Markowitz-Mitchell LLC permission to destroy the building in September, but the Lyon County Historical Society and Steve Hanschu appealed the decision to the courts. Oral arguments in the case are set for March 1.
Friday afternoon’s hearing on the injunction frequently grew combative. More than once, attorneys and witnesses began to talk over each other and had to be reined in by the judge or the court reporter.
Kenyon Hall is not on the state or national historical registers, but it is within 500 feet of Anderson Library, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. In 2004, the Kansas State Historical Society said that Kenyon could qualify for the register because of its Gothic architecture, but an application was not completed before Markowitz-Mitchell bought the property in February.
Hanschu, a board member and officer in the county historical society, testified that supporters of Kenyon learned that the building was on the city’s agenda only a week or so before the meeting, leaving little time to prepare. He said he brought some information for commissioners to consider, including the Web site of a developer who had done similar renovations.
“Would I be correct in assuming they called a recess and called up the Web site and studied the information you brought them?” asked Deborah Huth, the attorney representing the historical society.
“No,” Hanschu said.
“What did they do?”
“They passed them along and briefly looked at them,” Hanschu said.
Larry Putnam, the attorney for Markowitz-Mitchell, said there had been plenty of time, as the permit had first been applied for in March.
During that city commission meeting, Dave Markowitz of Markowitz-Mitchell estimated that rehabilitating Kenyon could cost about $120 per square foot or nearly $5.4 million. That cost, he testified, was based on an averaging of similar projects elsewhere.
Even with the potential tax credits — up to 20 percent from the federal government and 25 percent from the state for historical renovation — a renovation just didn’t seem doable, Markowitz said.
“I don’t feel there’s a feasible plan on the table, using the existing tax credits,” he said.
Markowitz-Mitchell has a demolition proposal for $170,000 but has not signed a contract yet.
“Is that a firm bid?” Putnam asked Rick Mitchell.
“It is.”
“For how long?” Putnam asked.
“For 30 days.”
“Has the time run out on that?”
“Yes,” Mitchell said.
Others have discussed purchasing the building from the company and in at least one case, Markowitz-Mitchell proposed a price of $700,000. It paid $65,000 for the property.
Mitchell testified that the company was considering a 15,000 square-foot commercial property for the space, which would run $1.5 million. No plans or architect’s drawings have been prepared, he said, since the demolition permit had not yet been issued.
In summing up, City Attorney Blaise Plummer said the city commission had a good record in helping preserve historic properties, such as the Granada Theatre, Red Rocks and the city’s Carnegie library. But, he said, it’s not possible to save everything and Kenyon was becoming a potential danger.
“Are the defendants required by law to maintain a deteriorating building that is a financial liability and a safety hazard?” Plummer asked.
Attorneys for the historical society, meanwhile, said the city commission hadn’t considered all the alternatives before ruling on Kenyon.
“There was substantial information that if looked at, would indicate that there were feasible and prudent alternatives to demolition,” said LeeAnne Hays, a Johnson County attorney representing the plaintiffs with Huth. “So both the city and the applicant failed to meet that burden as required by the state of Kansas.”
Following the ruling, the Lyon County Historical Society was left with the next step — coming up with the bond money.
“The historical society works on a very limited budget, so this is something we’re going to have to work out with the attorneys,” Hanschu said. “But we have confidence and faith that we’ll be able to meet that burden and continue with the case.”