Is this building worth another $76,000?
Originally constructed in 1867, the Gitchell building has seen floods, steamboats, railroads, newspapers, and has more than 3,000 square feet of space on two floors.
By Tom Peterson
An engineering assessment on the historic Waldron Drug/Gitchell building next to Lewis & Clark Festival Park has come back to the City of The Dalles.
It would take $76,000 during the next 5 to 20 years to maintain the historic structure, which some locals want to see saved and repurposed.
The City owns it.
In recent years, it has put $250,000 into the building for roofing and stabilization repairs.
Here is a link John Willer provided to the expanded list of costs associated with the building.
At first sight, the building seems a no-brainer. It could be a great annex to the park and a possible future location for tourism-related functions while providing an historic billboard to Interstate 84.
After all, The Dalles hangs its hat on history. 15 new murals downtown attest to it.
“The Gitchell building has several old historic signs on the East and West sides that are faded and could be called, ‘ghost signs”. Similar to Astoria, the City could explore an effort to project these ghost signs on the sides of the building and bring them back to life,” Wrote The Dalles City Manager Mathew Klebes in a staff report to City Council. “This would better activate the Gitchell building by highlighting our history, would be highly visible from the interstate, would add to the Lewis and Clark Park, and could even include other projected statements such as, “Visit The Dalles” on the side of the Gitchell building. Staff would need to coordinate such a project with entities such as ODOT, the railroad, and the Historic Landmarks Commission.”
The Dalles City Council will have four options to ponder tonight in regard to the building ranging from the basic maintenance to keep it structurally sound to an option of demolition at a cost of around $200,000.
The meeting begins at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall or you can view it via ZOOM here.
CCCNews also intends to live stream the meeting via its Facebook Page.
The basalt stone in the building set in place and mortared by hand gives the building a unique feel, complete with historic hand-painted signs.
The Front of the building along the railroad tracks.
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