Jim and LaQuinta Schum, an Evansville entrepreneurial couple, may bring a commerical office condominum complex to Downtown Evansville.
Last November, the Schums purchased the former Hilliard Lyons Building -- Evansville's first highrise building -- at Fourth and Main streets. Now, they are studying several options for making use of the old landmark structure, including turning it into commercial condos, Jim Schum said Thursday.
The building is now nearly empty.
If it became a commercial office condo, a business or service company, such as a law firm or pharmaceutical outfit, could purchase an entire floor or a smaller amount of space in the building for its use, explained Schum, who is 50 and an associate of Enova Premier, a Princeton supplier of tires and wheels for the automotive industry.
Commercial office condos and commercial industrial condos are currently growing in popularity in some larger cities in the nation.
Schum said: "We think the residential condo market Downtown is pretty much saturated. But, we think commercial condos might possibly go over well," he said.
"A lot of people (business owners) don't want to lease space, but they would rather own something," he said.
By converting the 11-floor building into commercial condos it might give some of those people an opportunity to own something, he said.
"But we would still also own part of the building," Schum said.
Some of the space may be available for leasing as offices, he said.
"Everything is just kind of up in the air right now. We haven't decided exactly what we'll do with the building," Schum said.
Considering the building was built in 1915-1916, it's in considerably good shape. It still includes lots of original marble, bronze, brass and terra cotta touches, a la the Chicago style of design that was popular during the construction era.
In its early days, a basement vault of reinforced steel and concrete was so sturdy and secure that the U.S. Treasury used it to store some of its gold, according to historical records.
Currently there are two tenants, plus the Little Cheers Pub.
Before the Schums can attract new tenants, Jim Schum said they will need to get the building's elevators up to code. He estimated the work could could take eight to nine months to accomplish.
Schum and his wife -- an independent investor and a sewing instructor -- paid $775,000 for the building at an auction last November.
It is their first major commercial building.
The Three Omegas previously owned the building.
Each floor contains around 4,000 square feet of space. There also is a basement.
Standing 155 feet tall, the building was considered to be the finest of its size in the nation in terms of construction standards and quality of equipment and materials when it was completed 92 years ago.
Its initial cost was $265,000, or a total of $325,000 with furniture for a bank that it first housed.
William Lee Stoddard, an architect of New York and Atlanta, designed the building. The structure was built by the New York construction company of George A. Fuller.
In more recent years the building housed offices of Hilliard Lyons, which now has a new location Downtown.