ABINGDON, Va. – A California woman who says she recently bought the dilapidated Robert E. Lee Motel wants to renovate it for low-income housing or some other public use – not demolish it as proposed by Washington County officials.
“I don’t think we should demolish it; I think it’d be a shame,” said Neelam Sachdez, who said her purchase of the property on Lee Highway between Bristol and Abingdon just went through within the last month or so.
She said she admired the building when she lived in Abingdon years ago and has long wanted to do something positive with it.
Her idea: use grant funding to restore the landmark and turn it into low-income housing or a non-profit facility to serve some other public need.
“You have to look at what the community needs, what would be the best for that area,” Sachdez said. “I think it would be helpful for the community.”
The 1940s-era landmark closed more than a decade ago.
Sachdez said the vegetation that has grown up around the building – the first obvious sign of neglect – could be removed in a matter of hours once the project gets started. She said she plans to come look at the building soon.
Dulcie Mumpower, the Washington County supervisor whose election district includes the area of the old motel, said Sachdez would need to submit a plan in a hurry if she believes the building can be saved.
Last week, the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved an ordinance that set up a process for the county to remove a hazardous building. At the same meeting, supervisors voted to apply the ordinance to the old motel.
“If they don’t go ahead and do what needs to be done with it, then we’ll go ahead and do what’s necessary to see that the building’s torn down,” Mumpower said.
“That will be up to her to get an engineer in there and present a plan to the county to let us know what the engineering firm has found. … That will be up to her to present her case … but she’s got a limited amount of time to do that.”
Mumpower said the building is a health hazard, an eyesore and a place for people to congregate.
“It’s a serious situation, and the county is going to deal with it if it’s not taken care of,” she said.
Dottie Davis, deputy commissioner of revenue for the county, said Monday she doesn’t know if the property has changed hands.
“We’ve had several people coming in wanting to buy it, but we haven’t gotten anything to my knowledge that it has sold,” Davis said. “They wanted to restore it and make it a historical place.”
She said she hopes someone is able to renovate the building.
“I remember it when it was still in working order and … it was just such a wonderful place,” Davis said. “It really was more of an antebellum feeling, sort of like ‘Gone with the Wind.’”
dmccown@bristolnews.com | (276) 791-0701
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