Historic building sees new use

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Old utility building By Kim Rynders

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July 29, 2008

Old utility building to house new Limestone tourism center

By Karen Middleton The News Courier Tue Jul 29, 2008, 09:58 PM CDT

The ca. 1906 former Athens utilities building at Beaty and Market streets has seen a lot of history over the past century.

By the end of the year, the building at the edge of Big Spring Park will house an official whose job it is to look to the future of the community.

Monday, the Athens City Council voted to renovate the building at a cost of $50,000 to house the Tourism office of the Greater Limestone County Chamber of Commerce.

Tourism Director Jeanette Dunnavant was in Georgia attending marketing training college and was not available for comment about what will become her new office. Dunnavant now has an office in the chamber office across the corner to the south of the building to be renovated.

“We want to bring this building up to snuff for tourism and establish community conference space,” said Mayor Dan Williams in making the recommendation to the council. “We are planning to take out the old switch boxes and that will be the conference room. There is a basic need to keep the building from deteriorating.”

The work will be done by Earl Glaze and his work crew in the Public Works Department and funded 50 percent from the Electric Department budget and 50 percent from the General Fund.

Glaze, who manages the Sanitation Department, and his workmen are finishing out work on the old College Inn buildings, which were moved from their original location at Clinton and Pryor, to East Street across from Big Spring Park. The service station building will house a children’s museum and the former café will house Keep Athens Limestone Beautiful offices.

Councilwoman Milly Caudle said that it is more economical to have the city workers do the renovations rather than wait on grant funding, which could take up to two years to be approved.

In recent years, the building has been used for storage. At one time it was opened for a hall in which senior citizens could play dominoes.

Williams said the work could be completed by the end of December.