When Claire and Rich Major completed their two-year-long renovation early this year of the long-vacant Northside Motor Exchange building at 655 Scenic Highway in the neighborhood newly rechristened as Downtown East, they were bombarded with inquiries from event planners interested in using the 6,600-square-foot warehouse space in the rear of the building for parties, receptions and events.
Plans have changed, however. The building—both the warehouse and the 2,000-square-foot showroom that is currently home to Claire Major’s arts and interiors business, Artvark Ltd.—is up for lease, after the Majors were unable to secure a permit from the state fire marshal that would allow them to open the building for large gatherings.
“I’m very disappointed because I’ve grown to love the building,” says Claire Major, who, with Rich and their son, Alex, spent more than $100,000 renovating what was the city’s Packard dealership in the mid-20th century. “I love the neighborhood. I feel safe there. I have friends there and I employ people who live there, so it’s disappointing.”
Major says after receiving so many inquiries about using the warehouse for events, they applied for permits with the city and the state fire marshal. Though they didn’t have any problem with the city, the state required they install a sprinkler system, which, at an estimated $60,000 or so, was cost prohibitive, Rich Major says.
“However, there are things you can do that are the functional equivalency of a sprinkler system,” Major says. “So we tried to go that route instead, installing a certain number of fire extinguishers and alarms.”
But the state required architectural renderings of the building, which the Majors say no longer exist. Getting new ones drawn up would have cost more than $12,000.
“After six months of this, we decided just to move on to some other project,” Claire Major says.
The family hopes to lease the building to one or more creative tenants. Claire Major says she will relocate Artvark Ltd. if they can find a tenant interested in leasing both the showroom and warehouse. She says the asking price is around $5,100 per month.
“We’d prefer to lease it to someone who has some artistic creative endeavor or a high tech venture,” she says. “We’re hoping to find someone who wants to do something cool and progressive instead of just use it for storage.”
—Stephanie Riegel
