For several months, MAD Hospitality owner Preston Snyder has intended to demolish the building that houses The Sinclair, Community Roots Market, and formerly, Betty Gene’s.
The portion of the building consumed by fire was torn down in March, and last week Snyder announced his plan to demolish the rest of the building.
In last week’s edition of Lake Oconee News, Snyder shared that the building “was always anticipated to be a redevelopment project.” The building would therefore need eventual demolition due to contaminated debris under the foundation, resulting from the 1930 fire that destroyed the New Morgan Hotel, which occupied the space for multiple decades.
Last year, Snyder’s proposal to build a mixed-use project passed unanimously through the city’s Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) and Planning and Development. The project ultimately stalled at Madison City Council’s March 17 meeting and is most likely not to move forward.
Ken Kocher, the City of Madison’s preservation planner, shared the process behind Snyder’s building proposal, which he presented to the Historic Preservation Commission. He noted that the HPC is responsible for preserving both the “overall character” and new developments within Madison’s Historic District.
“When we do new construction, we usually have what’s called a conceptual review, and usually people don’t get a lot of plans done and find out that it’s something that would probably not be approved,” Kocher said. “But this was a bigger project, so Snyder went ahead and engaged with the Architectural Collaborative out of Athens, and they did a pretty thorough presentation [of the proposed development.]”
Snyder designed his now-scrapped “mixed-use” project as a three-story building with commercial use on the first story, for The Sinclair and Betty Gene’s to operate. The second and third floors were designed for residential use, featuring “loft-style” apartments.
Kocher says that Snyder first approached the committee with the conceptual review in October, and the committee eventually approved the design after suggesting a few adjustments to propose a blend with the district’s historic appearance.
“The [HPC] gave them feedback and suggested that the presentation seemed a little bit too modern,” Kocher said. “The commission did look at the height and the overall massing, and what had been on the site historically, and didn’t have a problem with that aspect.”
Snyder mentioned in last week’s edition of Lake Oconee News that he designed the proposal with elements from the New Morgan Hotel. He opted for a second conceptual review, also to feature some of the district’s building designs, such as brick, rounded, and chamfered corners.
“Essentially, my recommendations at the time, since we kind of had worked through the massing of it, were more of how the building fit in detail-wise, but by the end, I didn’t have a lot of suggestions,” Kocher said. “So I said wrapping storefronts and paired windows on the Jefferson Street side of the building adds variety to this highly visible facade and reduces the feeling of mass.”
According to Kocher, Snyder presented the second review with an updated design that better aligns with the HPC’s guidelines. He says they were pleased with the updated layout but expressed concern about the height as “monolithic,” when most downtown buildings vary in height.
Snyder’s third and final conceptual review was then approved, with the condition that adjustments be made to the building’s corners.