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The storied Gilmer Hotel property, one of the earliest to be developed in Columbus and a lodging house for more than 200 years, today sits as an empty lot in the heart of the downtown. While it’s been subject to multiple sales and redevelopment plans in the last decade, it was in legal limbo last year after the city threatened to reacquire it in order to ensure its development meets the city council’s standards.
Who currently owns the Gilmer lot? Is the city still trying to rescind the purchase of that property? What does the future look like for one of the historical anchors of Columbus?
Why is the Gilmer lot significant?
The Gilmer’s block was among the earliest foundations of Columbus’ development, holding the first frame house erected in the city and then the first post office, according to a column local historian Rufus Ward wrote for The Dispatch in 2015. When Rev. George Shaeffer arrived in 1822, his writing testifies that there was already a “Gilmer Hotel.”
There was also an establishment called the Eagle Hotel on the corner, which in 1860 was acquired by John Gilmer for redevelopment into a new Gilmer Hotel.
That was still under construction when the Civil War broke out in 1861. The unfinished Gilmer Hotel housed 800 wounded soldiers from the Battle of Shiloh in 1862, eventually gaining 450 permanent beds and becoming the largest hospital in a city known for its civil war medical centers.
The three-story building wouldn’t finish construction until after the end of the war. It operated as the Gilmer House Hotel and then just the Gilmer Hotel until it needed even more renovations in 1907.
It was retrofitted with a fourth floor and an electric elevator, with hot and cold water alongside steam heating in all rooms. More than one-third of the rooms got private toilets, and all had telephones installed.
Why wasn’t it redeveloped after recent sales?
By 2015, the building had fallen into disrepair. Officials noted multiple code violations from the outside, and the interior had degraded enough that some rooms weren’t even being rented out to guests.
The city met twice with its owner Shareeji, LLC in Chicago, eventually settling on a $425,000 purchase price in October 2015. The hotel was demolished shortly after the 60-day window to vacate closed.
The city held onto the property until 2021, when it was sold to Financial Concepts for redevelopment. Financial Concepts planned to build a mixed development with a new head office alongside retail, garage space and apartments.
By August 2023, however, those plans had fallen through. Financial Concepts owner Scott Ferguson listed the property for sale at $950,000, sparking a legal showdown with the city. The company reported development costs had ballooned from $1 million to $7 million and offered a reduced plan to build just its new offices, but the city rejected those blueprints and even threatened to take the company to chancery court for breach of contract.
“After Ferguson spent a good bit of money getting the site surveyed and doing soil compaction studies, he started getting prices from his builders, and it came in extremely high. That was when building prices were through the roof a few years ago and he couldn’t afford that,” said Steven Guist, the property’s Realtor with Crye Leike Properties Unlimited.
What’s the current status of the Gilmer Lot?
Mayor Keith Gaskin told The Dispatch Monday that the city is no longer looking to rescind the lot’s sale, leaving the storied downtown property once again in the hands of Financial Concepts as the firm seeks a new buyer.
“We’re satisfied that whenever Financial Concepts sells or builds there, it will stay within the guideline the city put forward,” he said. “The city has no interest in owning land like that, or structures. … We’re just trying to make sure that whatever is built there, and we would like to see something built there, fits within the architecture of the city in that historic district.”
Gaskin said the city contracted with local attorney Amanda Meadows in August 2023, meeting with legal representation from Financial Concepts to go over the terms of the sale and verify that the city’s sale conditions would still apply to any third party that buys the lot from Financial Concepts.
Those requirements are written into the deed, which makes the property’s sale conditional on the lot’s grantee constructing “a building on the lot that would somewhat resemble the proposed layout drawing attached thereto to said contract.”
Ferguson declined to comment for this report, but Guist said that wording fundamentally amounts to requiring the city council’s consent on any building plans.
“The wording in the deed is that he has to build something that ‘resembles somewhat’ exhibit A, which is kind of vague,” he said. “That could mean anything from putting up bricks and mortar, but that’s how it’s worded in the deed. … anybody that buys it would have to have their plans approved by the city council and planning board.”
Financial Concepts is still looking for a buyer, and while Guist said it has entertained several interested parties, nothing substantial has come together. The lot has been on the market for more than a year, and the asking price has fallen from $950,000 to $650,000.
With the city now satisfied and legal threats settled, the fate of the property remains uncertain. Guist said Financial Concepts won’t develop the land, given the company has already committed to building its new offices on Frontage Road south of U.S. Highway 82 instead, but who will buy the downtown Gilmer lot and what they would build on it remains to be seen.
“The city would’ve had a nice, beautiful property there, and more tax base,” he said. “But now it’s gone out of the city and into the county. Ferguson is happy since he’s got a lot of clients out of Starkville anyway.”
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 43 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
