The Elks Club building on Main Street has a new owner.
The Columbus-Lowndes Convention & Visitors Bureau board voted unanimously in executive session to purchase the building during a Monday meeting. CVB purchased the property for $650,000, using $450,000 in cash. Frank and Dean Loftis, who own the building, donated the remaining $200,000.
The purchase also includes the building that currently houses Musselwhite’s Barber Shop. The Elks Club currently houses Wherehouse Dance Studio.
Board Chairman Dewitt Hicks said the board did not take any action regarding the property’s current tenants.
“The board has taken no action at all to interfere with, disturb or make any decision relative to the current leases at the dance studio and barber shop,” Hicks said. “There’s a limited time left on their leases, but the contract provides that those leases will stay in place. There’s no indication anyway of any immediate action to remove (them) and acquire possession of the property.”
What’s next?
CVB has long-term plans to turn the Elks Club property into a child-focused discovery center and use the barber shop location, tentatively, as parking. Exact details of what such a center might include remain to be determined. Jan Leder, a volunteer with CVB, gave a presentation during the meeting of one potential concept.
The concept uses five key themes as launching points into specific areas — The City that Has it All (Columbus tour); Express Yourself…Make the World Better (Job education); A Step Through Time (History); A Walk in Our Woods (Nature); and Health and Wellness.
Leder said the discovery center, — which he called “America Meets Columbus” — could be a big draw for tourism into the city. He noted a similar center in Gulfport that draws more than 70,000 people annually.
CVB Executive Director Nancy Carpenter said the center should help not only draw more people to the city, but more events such as conventions that Columbus has missed out on in the past.
“Columbus and Lowndes County have missed out on several conventions that were coming here because they felt like there was nothing for children to do,” Carpenter said. “To have a wonderful educational center that will service both young people and adults will be extraordinary for our city.”
Carpenter said the move lined up well with the timing of the city’s purchase of the nearby Gilmer Inn on Main Street. The city ultimately plans to demolish the old property.
“Location is always everything,” she said. “And I think the timing is perfect.”
For now, Carpenter said any plans on what to do with the building are for the long term, as the CVB must first decide the specifics of the discovery center. After that, she said the organization will ramp donation collection efforts.
“Once the determination is made exactly how we will be filling the building, we will be looking for donors and community investors,” Carpenter said. “Anyone who is seeking more information or who would like to discuss a gift to the Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau Cultural Heritage Foundation, I would be happy to sit down with them.”
Frank said he and his wife were pleased with the agreement and future plans for the property.
“We’re both happy to be a part of it,” Frank said. “We feel very strongly about bringing tourism dollars to Columbus. We think it will help everybody in the city and county. This is an important thing we’re doing here. We think it will be a magnet to bring a lot of people.”
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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