Should the City of Winder Tear Down the Old Granite Hotel? Should the Site become a Park?

mollyrose December 6, 2011 at 12:41 am

As much as I hate to lose a part of history, I don't see the point in saving this old building. There are plenty of other buildings still empty in downtown and I don't know what purpose renovating the granite hotel will serve. I like the idea of a nice family park with pavilions, swings, benches, etc, to make pedestrian shopping attractive. Nobody wants to stop, park, and try find shopping when it is not convenient or pleasant to shop in downtown. Let's try something new and innovative and forfet this dilapitated old building that is in such disrepair. Use some of the stone and beams from the old building and put it into the park in some way. Make a nice memorial sign and name the park "The Granite Hotel Park.? This would preserve its memory without the huge cost of maintaining and renovating it. Lets use some common sense.

Tracy December 6, 2011 at 05:55 pm

As a planner I would like to emphatically say no to demolishing the Granite Hotel. No successful downtown revitalization project has ever included demolishing a historic, cornerstone building without planning for another building. The city has already demolished the church past the post office and that property still sits empty. A park would be much better suited on this spot rather than in an important location in the city's façade. Larry's has closed its doors and this leaves an entire block of buildings empty. Demolishing the hotel would be yet another hit to our declining downtown. The hotel should be rehabilitated to provide commercial at the street level and residential on the upper floors. A restaurant would be a perfect fit and I'm sure that the residents of the Granite Hotel would love to have a restaurant in their building. There are other options. One community rehabilitated a historic building to be residences for low-income individuals. If the city demolishes the Granite Hotel it forever loses potential revenue the hotel would provide. Parks are nice but they do not belong on a city's main thoroughfare. There are a number of grants and funds and money the city has set aside to demolish the building that could be used to rehabilitate the Granite Hotel. We need to save this historic building and make it a viable contributor to our downtown.
Tracy L. Hambrick, LEED GA

april October 31, 2012 at 05:42 pm

Greetings Tracy, my name is April and I work for Green Grease Recycling. I hope I have the right person. Are you the person over the America and GSU Recycling Day, if so would you please be so kind as to email me at aprilnroyal@gmail.com. I have a few question about the event.