FROM STAFF REPORTS
The Historic Vance Hotel has officially been sold to the Rainier Group. The sale officially closed on Tuesday, according to the City of Statesville.
City Council members voted 4-4 in May to sell the 100-year-old landmark to the Rainier Group for $47,000. Mayor Costi Kutteh cast the tie-breaking vote in favor of the sale. A previous council purchased the hotel from the Estate of Thomas Wilson in 2012 for $475,000.
Led by Steven Barker, the development company plans to turn the Vance Hotel into a 60-room boutique hotel and build a new parking deck on the rear of the property.
The development is expected to cost upwards of $8 million, with an estimated $200,000 earmarked for immediate roof repairs. The top two floors have sustained significant water damage in recent years.
Under the sales agreement, city staff will assist the Rainier Group with efforts to qualify for historic property tax credits and permitting for the project. The city will have use of 20 spaces in the adjacent parking deck.
“This is a great day for all of Statesville!” the mayor said in a post on the city’s Facebook page. “We have been working extremely hard to find the right team to restore the Vance Hotel to its prior glory. We are confident that Steve Barker and the Rainier Group are the perfect match. Steve has already spent countless hours and many dollars to get to this point and will immediately rebuild the roof. We look forward to watching the progress at the hotel.”
Outstanding ????
I worked there and I know what it’s capable of being.
I hope this gives downtown Statesville the leg up that it needs.
This will be one of the best things that could happen.
I do pray that this beautiful building can finally be restored and be an asset to the city. Sadly it certainly wasn’t a very good investment.
I hope they actually follow through this time. My mom went to the prom there in the 1930s when she graduated from Union Grove High School.
It’s great it got sold! Something great can be made from this location, but they might want to have someone deal with the ghost issue. That place is haunted.
This is great news. I was the co-executor of Dr. Tom Wilson’s estate and finalized the sale of the hotel with the city’s attorney. I managed and secured the hotel for several years and held an auction of the contents of the hotel. I am looking forward to seeing the renovations of this historical building project.
I don’t not like this at all. I would have paid 45k but sale was unknown.
City needs a lesson in math: $475,000 purchase and sell it for $47,000?