R91-154 ACCEPTING DONATION AND AUTHORIZING AGREEMENT 239 N. WATER STREET

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, • . 1 PHYSICAL CONDITION EVALUATION OF THE WOOLWORTH BUILDING We have been asked b the Cit of Decatur to evaluate the Y Y condition of the Woolworth building located at 239- 243 N. Water Street, Decatur, Illinois for potential undetermined office use. PROPERTY DESCRIPTION The building was originally two structures with a brick bearing wall separating the two buildings. The Ground floor was combined into one large space by providing a set of columns down the middle that replaced the bearing wall. On the upper levels the building to the north has three full levels and the building to the south has a partial second floor and a third floor that is reduced further. The upper levels are only accessible from the adjacent property to the North. It is apparent that the upper levels were last used by the Neumans Department store. There are remains of book keeping areas, clothing display areas and clothing storage. At the height of Neumans ' business most of the upper levels appear to have been used by that store. There is a maze of front display areas and back storage areas on both levels. The areas of the different levels are as follows: gross net Basement 11, 500 s. f. 9, 000 s. f. Ground floor 11, 500 s. f. 10, 000 s. f. Second floor 9, 180 s. f. 8, 000 s. f. Third floor 8, 160 s. f. 7, 000 s. f. The front facade of the building has two different designs above the ground floor and a ground level facade treatment that was presumably unified when the ground floor space was combined. The architectural design of the two upper level facades are not particularly noteworthy however they are not in bad condition. Replacement of broken window panes is the least amount of work that would be required. Some consideration of the appropriate street .level expression would have to be considered. The maximum amount of work would involve some type of historic reconstruction that might include completely replacing the ground floor store fronts and adding a cornice back on the north building. This amount of work would would cost $40, 000 to $80, 000. The structural system is wood joist on steel beams or bearing walls. The structure appears to be in good condition. No evaluation of the load capacity of the floor systems was made but all indication of previous loading would suggest that it would be safe for office loading of 60 lbs. per sq. ft. BLDD Architects - Building Evaluation