Effort underway to save Capricorn building from demolition

Until two weeks ago, tour guides on the Rock and Roll Stroll in Macon would walk past Hutchings Funeral Home and down Poplar Street Lane toward the former site of the Capricorn Records business offices on W.T. Walton Sr. Way.

But that stretch was blocked by orange cones on a recent Thursday, and Rock Candy Tours’ co-owners, Jessica Walden and Jamie Weatherford, were forced to improvise a new route.

They did some investigating and found condemnation notices on the Capricorn building. Poplar Street Lane was closed because city officials feared the slowly decaying building might pose a threat to those walking along the alley.

The city hopes to find an answer and is working on a solution with the property’s owner, Walton Way Investors LLC, led by Alvin Hirsh, but the Cotton Avenue building represents a “serious safety concern,” said Chris Floore, director of public affairs for the city.

“We have talked with the owners and know there is great interest by people to save it -- even some discussion as to how,” Floore wrote in a message to the Telegraph. “It would be phenomenal for someone or a group to step forward and save the building.”

Walden, who also writes for The Telegraph, penned a column in Friday’s Out & About entertainment tab highlighting the history of the building, prompting an outcry to preserve the structure. A man from North Carolina started a Facebook event page that has served as an online petition to find a way to stop the demolition. So far, the event has prompted more than 1,400 people to sign on.

The building is a part of Macon’s history and a part of music history, Walden said. It was a chicken processing plant until it was purchased by RedWal Music, a music company founded by Otis Redding, Jessica Walden’s father, Alan Walden, and Alan’s brother Phil Walden. It was the beginning of Macon’s jump to the international music stage and a novelty for Macon at the time: an integrated business.

“It was unheard of at the time that a black man and a white man could have dual ownership of property or run a business together,” Jessica Walden said.

After Redding’s death in 1967, the buildings became the site of Capricorn Records’ executive offices and were owned by Capricorn until its parent company went into bankruptcy in the 1980s.

Rock Candy Tours highlights all aspects of Macon’s music history, and Walden said she hopes that somehow the building’s façade can be preserved as a visible symbol of Macon’s music heritage. Despite the building’s careworn appearance, it has been the most photographed spot of any stop on the tours.

“There really is nowhere else on a tour we can take people to where there is still that direct link,” she said.

OPEN TO PROPOSALS

The condemnation was not a complete shock to Walden, as the building had a leak when it was still the Capricorn offices in the 1980s, and she and her guides have watched it slowly deteriorate since they began giving tours in 2011.

Hirsh had the vintage signage removed to preserve it, in case the building is torn down and to protect it from potential treasure hunters.

The structures on the property are all in poor condition, Ethiel Garlington, executive director of Historic Macon, said.

In June, Hirsh invited Historic Macon representatives and city officials to tour it and see what might be done to come up with a plan for preservation.

“One of the solutions might be to stabilize the facade but demolish the interior,” Garlington said. “The structural engineer said that would be more expensive to do that than to just tear down the buildings.”

Hirsh bought the buildings after Capricorn went into bankruptcy. Over the years, he had hoped to find occupants for the building, but had no luck. Hirsh said he scheduled the meeting in June with Historic Macon and the city to try to find another solution.

He said he has been looking for ways to preserve it, but will not be able to do it himself, and he hopes something can be worked out. The city is willing to work with him and potential investors or buyers, provided there is a plan and timeline to save the properties.

“I would like to see the buildings preserved because they are a part of Macon’s history, and I am open to pretty much any kind of proposal that would do that,” he said.

Walden has heard that an investor may be looking for a way to purchase and preserve the building’s facade and keep it a visible part of Macon’s music history. She hopes that can happen before the property is lost forever.

She and her husband started Rock Candy Tours in response to the closing of the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. Since that time, she has seen several pieces of Macon’s history torn down. She hopes the tours can provide a means to remember this history.

“All we can do is tell these stories,” Walden said. “We keep telling the stories of these spaces in hopes we will value them more.”

Walden is hoping a message etched in a patch of concrete in the Poplar Street Lane alley is a symbol of hope for the buildings. “Rock N Roll will live forever,” it reads.

To contact writer Mark Vanderhoek, call 744-4331.

This story was originally published September 23, 2014 at 5:53 PM with the headline "Effort underway to save Capricorn building from demolition."