Plans for Iron Works stoke fears

By Gareth McGrath
Staff Writer
gareth.mcgrath@starnewsonline.com

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With the loss of the historic Ice House still fresh on their minds, some downtown community activists want to make sure the same fate doesn’t await the old Wilmington Iron Works building at Water and Orange streets. But developer Don Lashley says his proposal offers a viable alternative to save the historic building, which sits across the street from the vacant lot where the Ice House once stood. The plan calls for removing the Iron Works’ gable roof and adding three modern stories of corrugated metal and brick. “This is an economically feasible proposal that’s site-sensitive to the history of the building,” Lashley said. “I think considering that location and that design, or some very close variation of it, is perfectly appropriate for that location.”

But plunking three stories on top of the 130-year-old building for a handful of high-end condominiums is as bad as demolishing it, preservationists claim. “Its character will be destroyed by that,” said Dean Ripa, who owns the Cape Fear Serpentarium next door to the Iron Works. “We have a tourism industry downtown, and people don’t come to see modern buildings. This idea is bad for tourism, it’s bad for downtown, and frankly it’s bad for history."

City staff agrees, recommending the Wilmington Historic Preservation Commission reject Lashley’s proposal at tonight’s meeting.

Old maps have traced the one-story, brick building that housed the Iron Works back to the 1870s.

Back then the structure typified the buildings found along Wilmington’s working waterfront.

But the city’s waterfront has changed in recent years as urban decay has been replaced by condominium and mixed-use complexes riding the wave of the nation’s property boom and Wilmington’s thriving nightlife and arts scene. Noting his redevelopment of other historic properties around downtown, Lashley said he wants to continue that trend of breathing new life into old buildings that can then be reincorporated into the new downtown.

He added the property was on the market for two years and generated only lukewarm interest. The only serious offers were proposals to turn the 5,500-square-foot building into a bar or nightclub. “But I live downtown, and I know the town doesn’t want another bar down there,” Lashley said. Ripa, who constructed his building to blend into the historic neighborhood, concedes that working in the city’s Historic District does carry some restrictions.

“But why then did he buy the property in the first place?” he said. “It’s not like he didn’t know there were restrictions on what he could and couldn’t do with that building.”

Lashley is a former member of the Historic Preservation Commission.

Ripa thinks the building could be redeveloped in its current form into a number of community-oriented uses, including a nautical museum or something like the nearby City Market.

“I think it’s important to have things you can put your hands on, see from the past,” said Helen Greaves-Williams, a downtown resident who protested against the Ice House demolition. “It’s not bad to have history, because tourists don’t come to see condominiums.”

To express his disgust with the city’s failure to protect its history, Ripa has created a “Wall of Shame” within his museum to “recognize” anyone who helps knock down or destroy a historic building downtown.

He admits the display could generate some animosity from some of downtown Wilmington’s movers and shakers.

“Yes, it could,” said the owner of the Serpentarium, which houses some of the most venomous snakes found on the planet. “But we’re use to dealing with dangerous animals here.”

Gareth McGrath:
343-2384
gareth.mcgrath@starnewsonline.com

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