Architect Raymond Broady and attorney Omar Nelson, a co-owner, stand in front of the old Bell Brothers Shoes. They are restoring the old building on Washington at South Street. (Jon Giffin The Vicksburg Post)

[8/30/04]Work has started at 1501 Washington on one of the last projects under downtown urban renewal.

Jackson lawyers Omar Nelson and Ramel Cotton, both Vicksburg High School graduates, bought the building from the City of Vicksburg in April for $1 plus a commitment to restore it for retail and office space. The partners have done residential restoration in the past, but said they wanted to be a part of the redevelopment of downtown Vicksburg.

“We kind of stumbled across this project when we heard about what the city was doing downtown,” Cotton said.

Most people remember it as the Bell Brothers shoe store, but the building dates to 1911 when it was described as “the best equipped motion picture theater in the country,” in a newspaper article. It operated as the Alamo Theatre. Reminders can still be seen on the second floor, where plaster ornamentations still adorn the walls.

Other than the name on the ground just outside the entrance, there is no evidence that a shoe store was ever there, but that’s just fine with the new owners and their architect, Raymond Broady of Chicago.

“I want to see that wood come off, and I want to see what’s under there,” Broady said. “Whatever is here that reflects the original use of the building we want to keep.”

The theater closed in 1952, and the building was a private residence until 1959. In 1962, it reopened as Bell Brothers Shoes and was a family-owned business until closing in 1977.

Nancy Bell, executive director of the Vicksburg Foundation for Historic Preservation, said that in the years after 1977, the building was often vacant and has been everything from a wig shop to a bar. She said most of the building’s unique features have been lost over the years to construction and to damage in the 1953 tornado.

“We’ve worked closely with (the new owner) to have an exterior design close to what it would have been like,” Bell said.

“We’re bringing something back that was lost,” she said.

The city paid $68,900 for the building that was last T-Rel’s, a nightclub shut down under the previous administration. Under the deal with Nelson Cotton Property LLC, the developer has pledged to invest at least $200,000 in the property.

Plans presented to the city include restoring the front of the building to the original design of the Alamo and creating professional office space on the second floor and retail space on the first. Inside the building, plans call for 11, small retail shops with individual entrances to a main corridor.

“We spent a lot of time thinking about this building and we envision a situation where when a person walks in they’ll feel like they’re in a mall,” Nelson said.

Since 2001 when the city’s urban renewal project began, the city has spent $1.4 million and acquired 12 properties. Most are being kept for public use, including additional parking at the Vicksburg Convention Center and the $2.6 million downtown art park along Levee Street.

Mayor Laurence Leyens said that although some of the properties were sold for less than what the city paid for them, the redevelopment will bring in more taxes and the city will recoup the money.

“This is a perfect example of what urban renewal can do for the community,” Leyens said of the Alamo redevelopment.

Developer Buford Daryl Hollingsworth paid $5,000 in January for parcels at 1517 and 1519 Washington St., commonly referred to as the Western Auto building. The city had purchased the building for $48,000.

The city has also received an offer of $40,000 for the Super 10 building, 1509 Washington St., and is still in negotiations with the developer Thad Pratt and River City Properties LLC. The building was once the downtown Sears, and the city has fixed up and painted the front.

The city acquired the property for $129,000, but also receives rent payment from Super 10.

Two other properties on Mulberry Street, the Ready Ice Co. building and L.D.’s Kitchen, have also been purchased by the city, but are being leased.