Architectural Review Board endorses Afton Inn conceptual plan

The BAR ponders some rather spectacular plans for redevelopment of the Afton Inn property. Photos/Roger Bianchini – Graphics Carter & Burton Architectural

The Front Royal Board of Architectural Review (BAR) got an update on plans for a partially rehabilitated and rebuilt Afton Inn from developer 2 East Main Street LLC on Tuesday evening, July 10.  And after a somewhat sternly toned initial questioning, the Town’s appointed overseers of maintenance of an historical ambiance of downtown Front Royal approved the conceptual plan for that redevelopment.

“I’m a fan of it – I have no problem with this at all,” newly-appointed Vice Chairman Michael Whitlow said in prefacing his motion to approve the plan.

“Me too,” board member Duane Vaughan said prior to his second of Whitlow’s motion.

The consensus was a unanimous voice vote of approval.  That approval will allow progress toward redevelopment of what has been an eyesore at the heart of Front Royal’s Historic Downtown Business District for the better part of this century, if not longer.

Queried after the meeting, Burton said with this initial go-ahead he hoped demolition of the 1950’s “annex” section could begin “within a few weeks.”

Aerial and ground perspectives of the front and west side, where the outdoor restaurant patio is located – note the vegetative ‘green’ wall and roof surfacing designed to help absorb vehicular pollution. File Photos/Roger Bianchini

The plan presented on July 10 by Jim Burton of Carter and Burton Architectural PLC of Berryville was a creative blend of old and new.

“It’s been a long and winding road,” Burton told the BAR of the process to this point.

The EDA and Burton in one guise or another have been working on a redevelopment plan for the long derelict Afton Inn since January 2017.  Following the meeting Burton explained to media that contrary to indications in the April 27 EDA press release announcing the changed plan, 2 East Main Street LLC is an entirely different entity than MODE LLC that presented the original demo-rebuild plan.  The only common denominator is Burton and his Berryville-based architectural firm.

During his presentation to the BAR Burton referenced a new partner with “deeper pockets” who was in “for the long haul”.  Burton later identified that partner to the media as Alan Omar.  Burton indicated a guaranteed commercial tenant for the first floor commercial area had been established, though he did not elaborate on that tenant or whether his new partner was or had brought that tenant into play.

He also said that it was not until the last engineering consultation during the seven-month interim between council’s September 2017 overturning of the BAR rejection of demolition and the EDA announcement of the changed plan this April that a preservation solution had been found.

“I met with everyone in the region that’s doing this kind of stuff, and nobody had a solution until the last group – I had an engineer and another builder and we came up with a new idea to prop it up,” Burton told the media following the meeting, adding, “It’s more of a financial risk.  So, having a more diverse business model with offices and a guaranteed tenant for the main level – it’s a very complex math formula, it’s just different.”

Burton told the BAR that neither state funding help, nor tax credits had been identified to help defer the additional $400,000 or so expense to preserve the outer structure of the building.  However, the economic potential of the emerging redevelopment plan that will save the four primary outer walls of the building in a community the developers believe is ripe for economic redevelopment led to the commitment to the cover the additional expense.

Original project estimates were $2.1 million for the MODE LLC demo-rebuild proposal versus as much as $2.6 million to save a portion of the original structure.  Currently 2 East Main Street LLC projects a $2.5 million save and redevelop cost.

The existing structure, including signs of exterior brick water damage pointed out by Jim Burton, below, during August 2015 BAR and media tour of the building.

As explained by Burton in the April 27 press release announcing 2 East Main Street LLC’s save-redevelop plan, “After extensive investigations with two structural engineers we have put together a team that is making plans to preserve the main structure of the Afton Inn.  It will be challenging but we are committed to a careful and staged process to straighten and secure elements of the existing structure while developing the mixed use project. Recycled materials will blend with new more energy efficient elements and systems to find a balance between new and old while being clear about the historic distinctions.”

And while the conceptual plan presented to the architectural review board on July 10 may have been rough to some degree, calling for further requested scrutiny from the BAR as specific details emerge, the overall impact was a perfunctory WOW.

The “WOWS” included a replacement structure for the to-be-demolished “annex” section, added circa 1950’s, that will house a restaurant-beer garden-entertainment venue; an outside-inside fire place serving both the restaurant patio and inside commercial space; French Case windows; outside window flower boxes with cast-iron safety structures to add a visible, outside “living element” to the upper-floor apartments; and commercial and environmentally-friendly aspects to make the project a financially successful one.  The environmental aspect includes a “living wall” of greenery on the building’s west side annex replacement structure to help absorb vehicular pollutants along North Royal Avenue.

The view from the Crescent and East Main Street intersection.

The view from behind Town Hall showing the new rear addition designed to house commercial use on the first floor and studio apartments on upper levels.

“There are more risks,” Burton told the BAR of the new plan, “but we want to keep the building occupied.”  And it is the financial and living viability of the finished product that is crucial to the redevelopment endgame for the developer and eventual owner 2 East Main Street LLC, as well as the Town of Front Royal and its downtown business community.

Two interested observers of the BAR meeting were William and Nina Huck, proprietors of C&C Frozen Treats on East Main Street.  As they were leaving Town Hall after the meeting they gave Burton a thumbs-up on his presentation.  The Huck’s have been very active in stimulating positive movement and activities involving the downtown and East Main Street business communities.

The 150-year-old building long known as the Afton Inn, opened three years after the American Civil War as the Montview Hotel.  Dating to 1868 the building is believed to be the oldest remaining structure in downtown Front Royal.  However, it sat derelict and deteriorating for perhaps two decades at the head of the town’s Historic Downtown Business District as the town government became immersed in an escalating legal and personal dispute with the building’s last private-sector owner, Northern Virginia developer Frank Barros.

A familiar front view of the long-vacant and deteriorating Afton Inn – Burton reported that the cupola on the roof has begun sagging and needs shoring up.

Then in 2014, the Town and EDA developed a plan to trade the just-vacated as too-small for future municipal use old Town Hall, circa 1935, for the Afton Inn.  While a political hot potato, the needed five-vote town council supermajority held and the property swap with Barros was accomplished.

Then after two years during which three private-sector renovation-based redevelopment plans were abandoned due to failed attempts to get state grant money to help cover an estimated half-million dollars in additional costs to save the building’s crumbling outer brick shell, the MODE LLC developers with roots in Berryville and Northern Virginia expressed interest.

“We have always been attracted to the natural beauty that surrounds Front Royal. We do think the town is on the upswing with the bridge repairs coming to an end and the Avtex site connection to Main Street.  We think the redevelopment of the Afton Inn property will add visible vitality that will help draw people to Main Street as they pass through heading to the Skyline Drive or other area attractions,” Burton has previously said of his and associates’ business interest in Front Royal and the Afton Inn redevelopment.

Jim Burton makes his case for a modern, multi-faceted structure that will retain four 150-year-old exterior walls, though the back one will be enclosed in the new design. Town Planning Director Jeremy Camp and BAR Chair Angela Toler, pictured, listen.

“While we understand this process has taken longer than any of us had anticipated (19 months and counting on July 10), the EDA, Town, and 2 East Main Street wanted to make sure all ideas were considered and discussed with State and local officials and that everyone is on the same page with the plan moving forward,” EDA Board Chairman Greg Drescher said in the April 27 press release accompanying approval of the announced changes toward partial preservation.

Those changes include a lease agreement under which the EDA will retain ownership through the redevelopment phase to assure things proceed in a timely manner within agreed-upon parameters.  Asked about the ownership arrangement by BAR Vice-Chairman Whitlow during the presentation, Burton noted that he was on the architectural side of the operation and that business question were best directed elsewhere.

A rear view from North Royal Avenue at about the old Town Hall building indicating the rear of the commercial restaurant structure to right where the circa 1950’s ‘annex’ section will be replaced; and the new three-story commercial-loft apartment addition to the left.

As originally announced at the EDA Board meeting of April 27, “2 E. Main Street, LLC has plans for limited demolition, stabilization and strengthening of the original structure and protection of the structure during phase one of the project.

“Phase two will consist of renovations and an addition to the property.  2 E. Main Street plans to have the project completed within an estimated 12 to 18-month timeframe with a cost of approximately Two Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($2,500,000). The plan is for a mixed use of commercial, office space, and residential apartment units.”  Following the July 10 BAR meeting, Burton confirmed those parameters as still in play.

So while it appears the major change in approach does not impact the general redevelopment plan for the site, the fact developers have promised to save the building’s crumbling exterior walls has certainly changed the architectural board’s perspective.

“We look forward to having the Afton Inn become a contributing structure to the vitality of downtown once again”, EDA Executive Director Jennifer McDonald has stated of the economic redevelopment endgame for the Afton Inn property.

And now it seems everyone is on the same page about how to achieve that endgame. – Welcome to Front Royal, Jim Burton, Alan Omar and 2 East Main Street LLC.