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Here is the article from the Times-Dispatch about the Murphy Hotel Annex.
A tree grows in downtown -- 6 stories up / It's symbol of frustration over fate of empty buildings Sunday, October 18, 1998
BY GORDON HICKEY
Times-Dispatch Staff WriterCity officials call the vacant, rotting hotel at Eighth and Broad streets in the heart of downtown "the tree building."
Building Commissioner Claude Cooper even knows what kind of tree it is: "It's a mulberry tree." He believes it grew from seeds deposited by birds that fly in through the holes where windows used to be.
And where did the birds get those seeds? Probably from the mulberry tree in the front yard of John Marshall's house.
The tree at Eighth and Broad is easy to spot. It's growing out of a top-floor window of the building, where every passer-by can see it. But Cooper has been up there for a closer look. "It's spooky," he said. "Especially on the upper floors."
The roof of the six-story building is rotted
through, as are the upper floors, which are also deep in bird guano. The place is infested with rats and pigeons, and the city has called it unfit for human occupancy.
For city officials, that tree waving from that upper-story hole has become a symbol of growing frustration. They have been trying for years to get the owners of the building to either fix it up, which now appears impossible, or tear it down, which would be very expensive.
But the owners haven't budged. The building sits there and decays, the cornerstone of a block of buildings that the former city manager called the symbol of a failed downtown.
It is one of more than 2,400 vacant buildings in the city, and one of the 1,200 or so that Cooper's office says should be demolished.
But who should demolish those buildings? City officials maintain that the owners are responsible, but making them do it is difficult.
The "tree building" at 715-19 E. Broad St. was once the Murphy Hotel annex, joined by an overhead walkway to the Murphy Hotel across the street. Now it is owned by a corporation called the Seven Fifteen Nineteen East Broad Street Corp., according to city records. The property management company is listed as Marx Realty of New York City.
Assistant City Attorney Gregory A. Lukanuski said the building is the corporation's only asset and as long as the owners maintain the corporate structure, they can't be held individually liable for the building.
The president of the corporation is Leonard Marx, of Scarsdale, N.Y. His corporation has owned the building since 1951, according to city officials.
Various city officials have had contacts with Marx and his representatives in recent years, but nothing has happened to the building. Marx did build a canopy over the sidewalk at Eighth and Broad after a piece of the building fell off and injured a pedestrian in 1994, but since then the city has had to repair the canopy.
Property manager W. Thomas Henderson said he doesn't know what Marx Realty is going to do with the building. "I wish I could tell you," he said. "I really don't know about it. I'm out of the loop."
He referred questions to Leonard Marx, who didn't return phone messages.
Lukanuski said the building long ago lost any real value. There is no mortgage to write off on anyone's taxes and any depreciation has long since been used up.
The owner also owes the city $6,682 in real estate taxes, including penalty and interest.
Lukanuski said he tried to "solve the problem simply by giving the owners an incentive to sell," but that didn't work out. Ordinarily the owner of a building could get a tax write-off by giving the building to the city, but since the corporation has no income, a write-off wouldn't do it any good.
He said he tried to persuade the owners to tear down the building and put in a parking lot. But, the projected income from a parking lot wouldn't offset the cost of tearing down the building.
The cost of tearing it down would be more than $500,000, according to estimates received by the city. That includes taking care of some serious environmental problems, including asbestos and all that bird guano.
When those two options failed, the city sent what Lukanuski called "a letter bomb." The city basically threatened legal action.
That brought a response from Marx in early September, Lukanuski said. Marx said Burger King was interested in buying the lot for a restaurant. But, Burger King wanted to put in a drive-through window.
The city said that wouldn't be possible. The lot is only 66 feet by 100 feet and a drive-through "would tie up the central hub of the GRTC," Lukanuski said. Besides, the city doesn't want a fast-food drive-through at a main downtown intersection.
Then Marx called again and said Burger King wasn't insisting on a drive-through. The restaurant was to close on the deal with Marx in a month.
A month passed, and nothing happened.
Lukanuski said he checked with Burger King in early October and the company hadn't even inspected the property.
Other ideas for the tree building have come and gone. Cooper said someone recently was interested in buying it for residences on the upper floors and retail sales on the street level. But, structural engineers have told him the building can't be rehabilitated, Cooper said.
So there it still sits. "There are signs of vagrants living in there from time to time," Cooper said.
It's been cited for violating the building code at least four times dating to 1995. In April the city condemned it and ordered it torn down.
But nothing has changed and the city has little recourse. Because the building is owned by a corporation with no assets other than the building, there is nothing for the city to attach. And the owner is in another state, so taking him to court would be difficult.
"It's a question of money," Cooper said.
"We have a budget of $1 million," said Deputy City Manager George Kolb. "With 1,200 structures in need of demolition you have to spread it as thin as you can."
"We have felt a better use of our demolition money was out in the neighborhoods," Cooper said.
His office has estimated there are about 1,800 vacant single-family homes in the city, and about half should be demolished.
It costs an average of $7,500 to tear down a house. That means the city's $1 million could be used to tear down about 133 houses.
Kolb said the city will continue to try to force Marx to tear down his building at Eighth and Broad. The only way the city would pay for it is if someone was standing in the wings to redevelop the property.
The city would pay, "If it makes sense for the city to do it," he said. "We haven't reached that point."
And Cooper is continuing to focus demolition efforts on neighborhoods. Since July his office has razed 54 houses. His goal for the fiscal year is 160.
© 1998, Richmond Newspapers Inc.
See elsewhere for the letter that broke the logjam on 1410 Avondale, despite the City's languid approach to the problem, and for the sad tale of code "enforcement" at 1601 Claremont.
Last updated 02/24/02
Please send questions or comments to John Butcher