The Dalles City Council had a productive meeting last night that covered several subjects. One that’s concerned a lot of citizens for a lot of years is the Gitchell Building, also known as the Waldron Drug Store. It’s the building on the other side of the railroad tracks on First Street that was built in 1867. Recently, the city hired an engineering firm to evaluate the structure and provide alternatives with cost estimates.
The report outlined four alternatives. Number one was to preserve the building where it is, budgeting replacements for the roof, HVAC system and repairs to the northwest corner of the building over the next decade totaling approximately $76,000. Option 2 was to do extensive renovation on the building at a cost of between $1.6 and $2.2 million. Option three was to move the building to a new location and fix it up at a cost of $3.3 to $4.5 million. And the fourth option was to demolish the building at a cost of $180,000 to $240,000.
This discussion has been held a number of times over the years, but this time a new feature was added. City Manager Matthew Klebes added to his staff report that the city of Astoria had recently had success restoring what they called “ghost signs,” faded remnants of old advertising signs on old buildings, to great effect. Klebes noted there were remnants of old signs on two sides of the building that could be lit at night, and provide a sort of permanent billboard visible from the freeway, attracting people to town. The idea of making the building useful again appealed both the the council and the people who came to testify on the building’s behalf. Mayor Rich Mays summed it up this way:
“I think the staff report, and this ghost sign idea, and turning it into a monument is kind of a game changer. If we do have a consensus, and it sounds like we do, to go ahead with option one, I see this as a new start and a new initiative.”
The mayor then held up a fat file full of past letters about the building and said now that there was clear direction, he would toss that and start a new file.