Two Spanish Town apartment buildings to be bought in December, developer says

After nearly two years of trying to make the numbers work, developer John Schneider is finally ready to buy two historic but badly dilapidated apartment buildings in the 600 block of Spanish Town Road. Schneider says a late December closing is set for the sale of the 1920s-era buildings that were the subject of a showdown about three years ago between preservationists who fought to save them and property owner Stuart Nixon, who wanted to raze them after a fire ravaged one of the two. Schneider says the deal has taken longer than expected to come together because the price of properly restoring the architecturally significant structures is so high—even given $250,000 of state historic tax credits he is expecting to earn in the renovation process. “It will take $800,000 to renovate them, and the buildings only appraise at $650,000, so that has been the challenge,” he says. “The easiest thing to do would be to tear them both down and start over.” But Schneider, who has a track record of renovating historic properties downtown, says he wants to help the neighborhood and believes in the long run the risk will have been worth taking. “You hate to say this is a loss leader, but that is pretty much the approach we are taking. You are doing something that will help bring you the next project,” he says. Schneider says he has two equity partners in the deal; he declined to divulge the agreed upon sale price. —Stephanie Riegel