BY SARAH STEPHENS
ELMORE/AUTAUGA NEWS
Top photo credit to Griffin Pritchard, PR Director for City of Tallassee.
Hotel Talisi is an historic hotel in Tallassee, Alabama, but its day’s are numbered, one way or the other. Today it lies in ruins, and is a burden to nearby business owners, members of the Tallassee City Council said.
Built in 1928, the building was originally called the Woodall Hotel. The name was changed to the Talisi Hotel in 1962. The building once housed a popular restaurant known for its fried chicken, and was a popular venue for weddings and parties.
In July of 1977, the building was added to the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage. It was a beloved icon of Tallassee residents and visitors.
But in November of 2009 a criminal act of arson severely damaged the structure. The building’s owners said in 2013 the plan was to repair and reopen the building. However, those plans never came to fruition.
In 2019, the city council voted to condemn the building, with plans to demolish the structure. That same year, the building was added to Alabama Heritage Magazine’s Places in Peril. Then legal battles began, but were resolved earlier this month. The City was given the go ahead to take action towards demolition.
“We talked in the Finance Committee meeting (recently). We are at the point now we think this property needs to come down. In fact, that is not a correct statement. It needed to come down years ago,” said Mayor Pro Tem Bill Godwin during the work session prior to the regular meeting last Tuesday night.
“We have a letter here from one of the members of the Tallassee Redevelopment Authority…about the city taking over this property and putting in funds to restore it. This makes no sense. One, it is private property. We couldn’t take it over if we wanted to. We don’t have a million dollars to put into the Hotel Talisi which is not our property. We don’t have money to tear down the old Mill. We don’t have the money to do a lot of things.”
Godwin said the council and City Attorney John Smith have discussed talking to the owners about a solution.
“We talked about the possibility of getting with the owner’s lawyer to see if he would donate this property to the city. Because we are going to tear it down. There is no other way. No more negotiations, we are going to tear it down,” Godwin said. “But if the owner would be willing to donate it to the city then once we tear it down at our cost, we would have more freedom to do something with it. Some nice things are mentioned in this letter on what we could do if it became the ownership of the city. If not, then we will tear it down, put a lien on the property for the cost of tearing it down, and then hopefully we will get our money back somewhere down the road with this property.”
John Smith asked for clarification that he should address the owner on the issue of perhaps donating the property.
“We are not dragging this out. I would give 10 days at the most for a concrete answer…either yes or no. Because we are ready to go. We do need to get some more bids (for the demolition.) We are ready for this building to come down. It has been 12 years we have been dealing with this legal mess, and deflection and all this kind of stuff. So, unless something changes, this building needs to come by either by ownership of Tallassee or we tear it down, put a lien on it and go from there.”
If the property owner agreed to sign it over to the city, officials would agree to a reasonable tax write off within the law.
Tearing down the building is “Only fair to people that have existing businesses down there. Who have had to put up with bricks falling, different things, rats, roaches fleas…you name it….running around their building. It is only fair to the new people that are coming up with new businesses down there. We don’t have a choice. People say ‘Well why can’t you restore it?,” Godwin said.
The answer is simple, he said. The City does not currently own it, and he emphasized again the city does not have funds for an attempt at preservation.
In other business, the council discussed the CDBG Demolition Grant to tear down old and abandoned houses within the city. That work has already begun, but Public Information Officer Griff Pritchard gave the council an update.
Seven houses have currently been targeted. Officials will work with CARPDC to move into the next phase.
There are still details to workout concerning lead and asbestos testing for the targeted houses and how that will be funded.
In other business, Godwin said that in a recent finance committee meeting, the issue of the swimming pool came up.
The Council, during the regular meeting, agreed to move $10,000 to allow doe repairs for the approximately 70-year-old swimming pool to allow the swim team a place to practice. This would include painting and chemicals, but would not address the old Pool House that needs major repairs. And if the current pump for the pool fails, additional funds would not be expended.
The pool has been closed to the public, other than used for practice for the swim team.
“The swim team does a great job. They represent the City of Tallassee well. We have always wanted to provide the best facility we can. It just got to be so cost-prohibitive. We need to put some closure on what we are going to do with the pool one way or the other. What we talked about was to go ahead. Tell the Swim Team we will do our best to get this swimming pool going. Assuming the pump will crank up and go. Hopefully they can use it this next year for swim practice. But if it goes out, they need to have a Plan B.”
There has been some talk about a fundraiser to build a new pool for the city. But with an estimated $2 million price tag it not feasible at this time, city officials said.
