BY CINDY CARSON

Anderson Herald-Bulletin

Staff Reporter

Fortune Management in Anderson received some bad news this week when the owner of the Plaza Printing building apparently had second thoughts about selling the building.

The building on the northwest corner of 11th and Meridian streets was scheduled to be part of the first phase in revitalizing downtown Anderson, the Town Center project. Fortune Management planned to buy seven buildings.

"We closed on three buildings today," Scott Pitcher, president of Fortune Management, said Thursday. "And we hope to close the rest of them next week. But there is a glitch on the Plaza Printing building right now and I don't know how that's going to work out."

The three properties included Tiny Towne, 115 E. Ninth St., the Miller-Huggins warehouse at 1219 Meridian, and the building at 1213 Meridian. Work is scheduled to begin in two weeks.

"You'll be seeing men there very soon," Pitcher said. "But the Plaza Printing building is very questionable at this time."

The owner of the building, Timothy Crabtree, could not be reached for comment.

The news came as a shock to Rev. Ray Wright and his wife, Irene, owners of Anderson Seafood Place on 11th Street. They considered retiring when they learned Fortune Management would be buying the building.

"I guess I don't know whether we'll be retiring or not now," Wright said. "A man from Fortune Management came here this afternoon."

Asked why the owner of the building had withdrawn it, Pitcher said he didn't know.

"It's my understanding that the owner is having some problems and isn't sure what he wants to do about the building," Pitcher said. "He's having second thoughts."

Steve Fultz, director of Anderson's economic development department, said he had heard the news about the Plaza Printing building.

"I heard about it on Wednesday," Fultz said. "It's a small hiccup for the city, but we're still proceeding."

If the building is not sold to Fortune Management, the city will likely start checking the building for health and safety concerns.

"Certainly if bricks are falling off, the city building commissioner needs to take a look at that," Fultz said. "In the midst of all this, we don't need someone to be walking by and be hit by falling bricks."

Meanwhile, the city planned to sign final papers of buying the former J.C. Sales building at 12th and Meridian streets Friday afternoon, Fultz said. That building will be torn down as part of the Town Center project.

The city will hire a company to clean up the site, removing any asbestos, and then demolition will begin.