The city of Macomb now owns a building on the east side of the courthouse square where Abraham Lincoln stayed on at least two occasions.
The city council this week agreed to pay $150,000 to acquire the south half of the structure built in 1857 as the Randolph House Hotel.
The city purchased the north half of the building late last year for $65,000.
Mayor Mike Inman said the city would like to get the building into a developer’s hands so that the second and third floors can be redeveloped into an attraction for visitors and a place where they could stay.
“The concept being that you would be staying at a historic building that was once occupied by President Abraham Lincoln,” Inman said.
The city hopes the current tenants on the first floor — Spellbound Stories, which sells books, card games, and collectables, and The Nail Salon — will remain, though The Nail Salon might need to move to the back of the building during part of the renovation process.
Inman said the previous owners did not have the financial means to redevelop the top two floors.
The work could be paid for with downtown tax increment finance district funds and revenue from the city’s new business development district.
“Those are the two sources of income that are ideal for this type of redevelopment,” Inman said. “The revitalization and redevelopment of a downtown property has always been a priority for us.”
No timeline is set for the project.
During the city council’s committee of the whole meeting on Jan. 26, city council member Dave Dorsett said other communities have seen older buildings fall into disrepair and either collapse or end up in such poor shape that they cannot be rehabilitated.
“And then, a lot of times you have the owners walk away and municipalities end up taking a significant bite in demolition, hauling away, remediation,” Dorsett said.
Also during that discussion, the city council’s John Vigezzi said Macomb is diligent about taking care of its downtown.
“Yes, we do spend a little bit of money on there, but that is the heartbeat of our community, the downtown of our community, and I’m very happy to be voting that, yes, we should be doing this, with a lot of the things that we do for our downtown,” Vigezzi said.
City Administrator Scott Coker said they’re excited to be doing the project. He said the third floor appears to be original to the building.
“It has a very historic look to it. Very dirty,” he said with a chuckle. “A lot of stuff up there, but it is very original it looks like on the third, which I think is pretty unique and would be easier then to remodel and get historic tax credits.”
Coker said the third floor is not currently being used. He said the second floor has been converted into apartments.
Two plaques on the building say Lincoln stayed at the Randolph House Hotel on Aug. 25, 1858, and Oct. 25, 1858, both during his campaign for the U.S. Senate. A third, newer marker on the building says he also stayed there on Oct. 13, 1858.
Two of the plaques also note that the room he stayed in became a local Lincoln shrine after he was assassinated.
Two of the markers also state the hotel was built by William H. Randolph and was known for its elegance.
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