Last summer a Main Street landmark was abandoned and taken over by the city in foreclosure proceedings.
Famous for the sourdoughs in its eclectic backroom cafe, and also for a sometimes rowdy front-bar crowd whose patrons more than once spilled out onto the sidewalks to resolve disputes, the Cordova House was one of the first buildings to arise back in 1908 when Cordova, of copper and railway fame, was born.
When fall weather arrived, the city found itself boarding up the CoHo’s windows to prevent flying glass from landing on pedestrians, and pumping out water from its leaky roof, while working through legal issues.
Clearly, the aging edifice’s time had passed. Yet perhaps surprisingly, a new era of enterprise, based not on railways, firewater, and pancakes, but fiber-optics, technology and cyber-space, will soon inhabit this Main Street location.
Cordova Telecom Cooperative (CTC), located on Second Street directly across an alley behind the CoHo, submitted the winning (and only) bid for the building and property, and will eventually replace the decrepit structure with a new building whose design will please locals.
CTC’s proposal describes a structure “aesthetically homogenous with neighboring building, while containing elements representing the local area.”
CTC Design rendering
Translation: It will look a lot like the next door Alaskan, albeit without an upside-down neon sign.
Good for them. The proposed three story, multi-use commercial building will feature first floor retail and office space facing Main Street, with a parking garage on the back alley. The second and third floor will include offices and apartments, as well as meeting and training rooms, with a goal of becoming an “innovative Cordova business incubation center”.
The idea is to create space that will attract individuals and enterprises that seek the advantages of smaller-town living while doing business online, as well as collaboration with the schools and local businesses to enhance innovation, utilization and development of technology.
CTC’s detailed proposal included over $200,000 in estimated initial costs, with $52,000 for property acquisition, $15,500 in closing fees, $7,000 for hazmat studies, $120,000 for demolition and $5,000 for temporary landscaping.
CTC will also assume responsibility for settling over $64,000 in liens against the building.
Once all this is resolved, CTC will embark on formal plans for construction of a 40-by-100-foot, 12,000 square-foot, three-story building that will include a roof overhanging the Main Street sidewalk to protect pedestrians from the weather.
Construction is anticipated to begin in 2021, with the building open and complete by 2023.
CTC will continue to utilize its nearby Second Street building and facilities.
City planner Leif Stavig mentioned how well the plan will fit in with long-range goals of reviving Main Street.
“Between that and the remodel of the old Museum and Library, this is a nice step in that direction,” Stavig said.
And, in a nice tribute to the history of this original Main Street building, the proposal notes that after CTC addresses hazmat concerns, salvage crews would secure antiques, personal effects and possible commercial assets from the building prior to demolition. Items would be offered at no cost to prior owners, with remaining effects donated to the museum or offered at auction.
Remember dining on Dorene’s famous pancakes amidst all those porcelain Christmas and farm animal figurines? This could be an auction worth attending.
After all, those priceless sourdoughs are gone, but memories of the CoHo might be worth a pretty penny.
