St. Clair to establish 2 historic districts

St. Clair officials hope to establish two historic districts to improve the odds of winning state and federal grants.

A city study committee looking into the idea over the past year began with plans to preserve the St. Clair Inn.

But Dan Lockwood, the committee's chairman, said its recommendation grew to include separate districts around both the inn and the city's history museum. The district boundaries have been submitted to the state historic preservation office for review.

Lockwood said the next step would be establishing historic architectural guidelines that buildings in those districts would follow.

But that won't happen before the St. Clair City Council approves the district boundaries and establishes a commission to draw up the historic buildings guidelines.

St. Clair Mayor Bill Cedar said he expected the historic districts to be addressed at the first council meeting in January.

City Clerk Annette Sturdy at the same meeting the districts are approved, council members also will appoint the historic district commission members.

She said establishing the districts would mean adopting an amendment to the city’s current historic district ordinance, which was adopted in May 2014.

Lockwood the discussion about just one district began sometime in summer 2014. He said the process — following standards set at the federal level by the National Parks Service — has been convoluted.

“One of the reasons it took so long is we did not want to get it beyond our scope,” Lockwood said.

Plans initially involved preserving the St. Clair Inn as part of a district, making any future developments of the building eligible for an array of state and federal grants and putting oversight of those changes before the city.

Officials have hoped a historic district would make the inn more attractive to buyers.

Cedar said he hopes for the best. While the city has heard about parties interested in purchasing the inn, he said there has been no formal action.

Officials are also including another district around the former First Baptist Church building that houses the St. Clair Museum and community center, where Lockwood said better access to state and federal funds could also be of some use.

“The historic museum, it needs a tremendous amount of renovation, and the resources in the community aren’t here,” he said. “We need to do something about it.”

Bob Freehan chairs the St. Clair Historical Commission, which oversees the museum, and prepared materials about the building, 308 S. Fourth St., and the surrounding property for the study committee.

The museum’s operations are largely on the former church’s second floor. The city-owned building has community recreation classes on the first floor.

Freehan said they “have a vested interest” in the architectural guidelines for that particular district, especially if it helps maintain the current historic character of the building.

Previously, he said they’ve redone a period lamp post, keeping up with what it’d have looked like amid the building’s origin in 1873. It’s also had some brick work and stained glass windows replaced.

“What it does is it moves the nature of the building itself to the next level as far as our ability to go after grants for both the interior and the exterior of the building,” Freehan said. “We have done that in the past, but this would enhance that whole process.”

Further work is needed in the building, he said, such as replacement of cracked plaster and making the entire facility handicapped accessible.

But it just isn’t the museum and center building itself that has historic value. Freehan said the plot of land itself encased in the second of two proposed districts also does.

Citing his research for the study committee, he said looking at the plot in the 1820s, it was established with plans for churches, schools and jails.

And if the plot itself has history, Freehan said, it could leave the potentiality for relocating other historic buildings to that area.

“It would have the potential of doing that,” he said. “We could do a variety of things because the block itself, which includes the parking lot and a number of parcels, has always been designated for public purposes.”

Contact Jackie Smith at (810) 989-6270 or jssmith@gannett.com. Follow on Twitter @Jackie20Smith.

ST. CLAIR INN

1926: The St. Clair Inn opens, becoming the first U.S. hotel to be equipped with central air conditioning. The Rotary Club sponsored the fundraising for the development.

1943: Creighton W. Holden, owner of the Holden Drive Inn chain, purchased 51 percent of the hotel stock.

1948: Holden's sons, Creighton D. Holden and Robert W. Holden, purchase the remaining 49 percent of the stock.

Nov. 24, 1951: The Holdens announce plans to add a seven-room second story on the north side of the inn.

October 1969: Plans are announced for a 60-room addition.

June 1975: Owner Creighton D. Holden says he is selling the inn to Hillaire A. (Van) VanHollebeke and Prudent O. (Buster) Blanke.

December 1978: Donald Reynolds of Grand Rapids, a former inn manager, and William Harvey of Jacksonville, Fla., take ownership.

1995: The English Tudor-style hotel is put on the National Register of Historic Places.

August 1996: Reynolds' company relinquishes ownership of the hotel to Meritage Hospitality Group Inc.

December 1997: The inn is sold for $3.8 million to Southfield-based Alegria Hotels International.

December 1997: Remo Polselli of Grand Hotels and Resorts International of Bingham Farms buys the inn.

August 2000: Paul Karcho of Oakland County becomes the newest owner of the inn.

August 2002: Karcho tries to sell the property at auction. Bids are rejected when they come in too low.

November 2005: Karcho's Waterfront Hotel Ventures sells the hotel to Firoz Lokhandwala's St. Clair Inn LLC.

February 2014: TransCapital Bank, of Sunrise, Florida, forecloses on St. Clair Inn LLC.