EDA makes stunning announcement on Afton Inn – exterior will be saved!

Those imploring the Town of Front Royal and the Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority to save the crumbling shell of the now 150-year-old Afton Inn got some good news Friday morning.

Following a closed session at its monthly meeting of April 27, on a motion by Bruce Drummond, seconded by William Biggs, the EDA Board of Directors approved by a 5-0 margin (Llewellyn and Blanton absent) a lease agreement with Afton Inn project developer MODE LLC, now known as 2 East Main Street LLC.  Details of that agreement included a major change to the developer’s original demolition-rebuild plan.

That change is abandonment of demolition-rebuild in favor of a plan that will preserve the four-walled exterior of what is believed to be Historic Downtown Front Royal’s oldest remaining commercial structure, circa 1868.

The Afton Inn’s glory days, circa 1920’s before a preacher in a new-fangled ‘horseless carriage’ drove into and brought down the porch system – Courtesy Photo/Warren Heritage Society

The lease agreement will allow the EDA to maintain ownership through the redevelopment process to assure the project proceeds on a planned schedule.  Once the renovation is completed “2 East Main Street LLC” will take over ownership.

In a press release accompanying the announcement EDA Board Chairman Greg Drescher explained, “We felt it was necessary to maintain a certain amount of control over the property until complete renovations and tenant occupancy have taken place.  The EDA and Town did not want to hand over ownership and take the chance of having the building sit vacant for another 15 years.  We feel this is a great opportunity with 2 E. Main Street, LLC and have no doubts they will complete the renovations as promised; but we also want to protect the investment the Town has made with the swap of the former Town Hall.”

Drescher added that in addition to maintaining ownership through redevelopment, the lease agreement allows the EDA to maintain “control over the materials used in the redevelopment, and some control of ultimate tenants in the property.”

Asked about a time frame for the project, EDA Executive Director Jennifer McDonald said she believes with submission of county permitting for the partial demolition and structural stabilization phases there could be movement at the site within 60 days.  She added that as for actual design and construction that another round of Town Board of Architectural Review (BAR) and council approvals will also be necessary.  Once under way, 2 East Main LLC is estimating a year to year-and-a-half construction timeframe.

MODE’s original architectural drawing for a totally new Afton Inn – Courtesy Photo/EDA

The Afton Inn, circa 1940’s – Courtesy Photo/Warren Heritage Society

In the release accompanying the announcement 2 East Main’s Jim Burton explained his company’s altered 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.”

According to EDA officials the added on, one-story “annex” portion of the building on the North Royal Avenue side will not be saved.  That section is believed to have been added in the 1950’s.

The EDA press release states, “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.”

So it appears the major change in approach does not impact the general redevelopment plan for the site.

Jim Burton points to exterior water damage prior to an August 2017 BAR-media tour of the Afton Inn. Royal Examiner File Photo/Roger Bianchini

The EDA and the LLC formerly known as MODE have been working on a redevelopment plan for the long derelict Afton Inn since January 2017.

“While we understand this process has taken longer than any of us had anticipated, 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,” Drescher said.

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

Mayor Hollis Tharpe gave the town government’s endorsement of the EDA’s ongoing stewardship of the project as well.

“The Mayor and Town Council support the EDA in this initiative to maintain ownership until renovations have been completed.  We gave the EDA a directive of working with an outside developer to make the building a contributing structure to our community and they have done just that.  The Town and EDA have worked together with several developers over the past few years and we are both happy with the outcome of 2 East Main Street’s plans for the building,” Tharpe states in the release.

Jim Burton points to exterior water damage prior to an August 2017 BAR-media tour of the Afton Inn. Royal Examiner File Photo/Roger Bianchini

Dollars and time …

The estimated $2.5 million cost aligns pretty accurately with MODE’s original project estimates.  During their first round of BAR and town council review MODE principals had estimated a $2,100,000 cost for the demo-rebuild plan as opposed to $2,600,000 for a plan that would save the deteriorating brick structure as an outer shell for the renovation project.

Asked whether any state historical grant money had been found to enable the costlier project, EDA Executive Director Jennifer McDonald said “no” but that the 2 East Main Street group had decided to absorb the additional cost of what they now believe is a doable save on some of the original structure opened as the Montview Hotel in 1868, 150 years ago.

So HEY, what’s another month or two to start and perhaps two years to completion in the grand scheme of things? – Unless perhaps you’re an East Main Street businessman focused on the nearly two decades the building has been a boarded-up eyesore at the head of Front Royal’s downtown business district.

But hallelujah, positive – and crowd pleasing – movement appears to finally be on the horizon at the Town of Front Royal’s central intersection of Royal and Main!!!

It appears that the Afton Inn’s long winter of disuse and deterioration is about to end. Royal Examiner File Photo/Roger Bianchini