MIDDLETOWN — An area city has voted on the future of a historic inn in Warren County.
The Middletown Historic Commission voted unanimously on Thursday to allow the demolition of the Manchester Inn and nearby Ford building, according to our news partners, WCPO.
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The vote ends a years-long discussion over whether the buildings could be saved and rehabilitated.
Commissioner Gabriel Schoenlein, President of the South Main Historic Neighborhood Association, tried to help city council members explore as many options as possible to save the building. He ultimately voted in favor of the demolition.
“I think people are now confident that there was nothing left to do with the Manchester,” Schoenlein said.
Commissioner Andy Brickler expressed his frustration during the pre-vote, stating that other historical buildings risk suffering the same fate.
" We’ve got to get ahead of these, or we have to get rid of the historical commission because if we’re just going to demolish buildings, why do we have a historical commission?" Brickler asked.
Josh Smith, Butler County Finance Authority President, said that tearing down the buildings and replacing them with a proposed CMC housing complex and park could revitalize the region.
“It will allow the density, in my mind, that will trigger redevelopment that the other historic buildings really need,” Smith said.
A CMC representative said that the developer would pay tribute to the history of the property with a display in the complex’s lobby and two informational plaques.
Now that the final approval was made by the City of Middletown, state regulators will have to make their own decision.
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