Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Webster University Case topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Webster University says Lure Library is functionally obsolete and seeks flexibility to market site
Summary
The university told the Historic Preservation Commission it has pursued multiple adaptive uses for the Lure Library without success, that appraisals and prospective buyers describe the building as functionally obsolete, and that it is seeking the option (not an immediate plan) to have demolition available to prospective buyers.
Webster University representatives told the Historic Preservation Commission that the Lure Library on the Eden parcel has been underused for years and that repeated efforts to convert the building were not operationally or financially viable.
"For the past 20 plus years, the building has remained largely vacant," Ryan Elliott, vice president of facilities and operations at Webster University, said, explaining the university's rationale for seeking a certificate of appropriateness to allow demolition. Elliott said the university had explored academic uses, performing-arts partnerships and other ownership transitions and that appraisals and informal buyer feedback indicate retrofitting the concrete building is prohibitively expensive.
Tom Wyler of Savoy Properties, who represents the university on commercial matters, described multiple walk-throughs by potential buyers who declined the building for reasons including insufficient parking and an unsuitable floor plate. Wyler said appraisals completed about 2½ years ago suggested clearing the site could be the highest and best use, and he stressed that at this stage demolition estimates are premature because any demolition obligation would likely fall to a future buyer.
University officials said they are not committing to immediate demolition but sought flexibility to market the property more effectively. "Marketing the property with the ability to remove the existing improvements will allow prospective buyers to develop the site to its highest and best use," Elliott said. The commission asked the applicant for more formal adaptive-reuse studies and a demolition cost estimate before it would consider approval.
