Boom Oddfellows Hall: Still Almost Sold
posted by on October 25 at 13:20 PM
Finally, a bit of official news (and not just rumor) about the impending sale of the Oddfellows Building. A letter of intent, from Redside Partners (the new property management company), went out to Oddfellows tenants yesterday:
Dear Tenants:
As you may have heard, the Odd Fellows building is being sold. The closing of the sale will occur in early January 2008. Our intent is to update the building systems while retaining and/or restoring much of the original charm The Odd Fellows intended almost 100 years ago. Significant changes in layout are planned for the retail and office (top floor) levels of the building.
While many of these projects may be inconvenient for you, we will make every effort possible to minimize these inconveniences.
The new management company for the building will be Redside Partners, LLC. We would be happy to discuss our plans with you either in person or over the phone.
We look forward to meeting and working collaboratively to make this transition as smooth as possible.
Sincerely, Craig M. Swanson Redside Partners, LLC
That doesn’t sound good for the running store on the first floor.
The small businesses and nonprofits on the second and third floors are also nervous. One says that tenants in other Redside buildings pay $35 per square foot and that everyone in the Oddfellows is paying less than $10.
(In this article, I wrote that Ted Schroth—of the Trace Lofts—is rumored to be the new owner. Though his name doesn’t appear in the letter above, tenants say he’s definitely involved and was walking around the building this morning with appraisers.)
This sucks but the running company on the first floor is WAY over priced for running shoes. Sorry, had to say it.
But as this development continues closer to the Stranger offices how long until the Stranger is fighting for it's office space? I give it until third quarter of 2008 and they will be facing eviction.
Dan, Brendan, Erica and the rest of you....the developers are getting closer...closer......
This does at least sound as though they're not immediately going to put condos in there, making it somewhat possible that Century, Velocity, and hopefully Freehold can stay. The upgrades will surely bump the rental up significantly, though. Century might have the capital and the profitabiliy to stay with the increases, but I have a hard time seeing the others do so. I'm really interested to see an official statement from the new owners, though, to make their intent clear.
Wow, I hope this means a Starbucks in coming in. And maybe a cool restaurant, like the Macaroni Grill or a Cheesecake Factory. My girlfriend and I love their food!
If they made any negative changes to that building or kick out any tenants, I will personally go over there and kick their ass. I spent most of my twenties in that building and love it and the organizations in it.
How about some constructive suggestions for the new owners? Other than effectively spending money out of his own pocket by leaving the building as-is ("I know! Sell $20 bills for $15!") how could a property owner handle this better?
This seems like the kind of letter I'd want to receive from a new landlord -- approachable, honest, and realistic.
Tragic really. For many reasons but primarily it could signal a decline in a great non-profit that is Odd-Fellows. I have a family member in an Odd-Fellows nursing facility. They are simply the best and most affordable around. I hope this isn't a sign of the times.
rippin the heart out of capitol hill
This is awful. Cornish College of the Arts rents space from there; the Theatre and classrooms. We have class and performances in there quite often. This is not good news for us.
Comments Closed
In order to combat spam, we are no longer accepting comments on this post (or any post more than 14 days old).