ECB Publishing Inc. Photo by Laz Aleman, Monday, April 19
Scott McPherson, leaning against light posts at right, explains to the members of the Monticello Historic Design Review Board some of the changes that he proposes to make to several of the historic buildings in the downtown district.
Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.
If you noticed the transformation that the commercial building on North Jefferson Street between Pearl and Dogwood treets is undergoing, get ready to see others of the downtown buildings undergo subtle and not-so-subtle changes.
The town, it seems, has a new transforming force in the person of Scott McPherson, a St. Petersburg businessman and owner of Jefferson Property Development, a limited liability company incorporated in November 2019.
McPherson, who still resides in St. Petersburg but plans to relocate here with his family, has purchased at least five historic buildings in the downtown district that he is in the process of restoring and revitalizing.
On Monday afternoon, April 19, McPherson gave members of the Monticello Historic Design Review Board (HDRB) a tour of the five buildings and explained the changes that he was proposing to make, in keeping with the building’s historic character.
The tour was in preparation for the HRDB later taking up the proposed changes and deciding if they were in keeping with the district’s historic character and warranted been issued certificates of appropriateness.
The tour began with the two-story commercial building at 215/225 N. Jefferson St., which is being painted a vivid yellow tone. The building also recently had its roof replaced and the wooden awning that ran the length of its front removed.
McPherson said the next step was to remove the rear loading dock and replace the upstairs windows with composite ones that looked like wood and matched the building’s design. He said the arches to the windows would be retained, and also talked about the possibility of reinstalling an awning in the future.
But not an awning that ran the length of the building as the previous one, he said. Rather, he said, it might be two or three separate awnings out front.
He also talked of the possibility of retaining the L. R. Rainey name that is embossed on the front of the building. The name, he said, hadn’t been exposed until workers had removed several coats of old paint from the building.
McPherson said his idea was to retain the bottom floor for retail shops and convert the upstairs into apartments. He said it is his hope to have the exterior at least completed in time for the Watermelon Festival.
The next stop on the tour was the old bank building at the northeast corner of North Jefferson Street and the Courthouse Circle that previously housed an antiques store. McPherson took the group into the building’s gutted interior, which showed much of the floor foundation stripped to the ground level and the ceiling largely in tatters, with exposed beams everywhere.
He said the idea is to construct a new structure inside the old, as water damage from the leaky old roof had destroyed the inside. A new roof had already been installed, and next would come the replacement of the awnings and side doors and windows with appropriate ones, plus the removal of the exterior a/c unit. He plans, however, to keep the front vertical-pane windows intact.
“This building is the biggest mess but it’s my favorite,” McPherson said.
His plan, he said, is for the space to be used for retail sales, with possibly one or two stores occupying the building.
Next on the tour was the two-story building at 135 Dogwood St., a Greek Revival styled structure dating from the 1800s that has housed barbershops in recent times. McPherson indicated that he would be making only minor cosmetic changes to this building, which was renovated not long ago, and to only replace the awning with a half-round canvas one.
Across the street at 166 and 168 Dogwood St., occupied by Jen’s Apron Café and the defunct Lazy Lizard Pizza Company respectively, McPherson said he plans to replace the upstairs double-hung windows with original sash layouts and replace the stairway door leading to the second floor with a metal perforated door. His plan, is to convert the upstairs into rental units.
Next on the tour was a two-story building without an assigned number on Cherry Street, just north of Gelling’s and across the street from what used to be the public library.
McPherson said the immediate plan is to replace the windows and put in a more appropriate door with a transom above it. As for his thoughts on the building’s use, he said it would definitely be mixed use, with a business on the bottom and living space above. Or maybe even a townhouse, he suggested.
Around the corner, in the empty space behind the old Jen’s Apron Café that was once occupied by the Rare Door Restaurant that a fire destroyed more than a decade ago, McPherson said he pictured converting the area into a landscaped patio. In fact, he is planning to have it serve as a beer garden during the coming Watermelon Festival.
McPherson told the board members that he has other changes in mind that he would be presenting to the board in due time.
He said he is excited about what being accomplished and hoped it met with the board’s approval.
“I try not to step on anybody’s toes, but you have to dive in after a while,” McPherson said, noting that he was saving as many things as possible from the buildings if they had historical value.
“I hope we’re heading in a direction that you see fit,” he said.
McPherson earlier told the Monticello News that he didn’t see himself as a developer, but rather as someone who helped complete or revive what existed.
“I’m looking to revive what’s here,” McPherson said. “It’s to bring in people and give the downtown a lift.”
Likewise, he said, it isn’t his goal to create subdivisions, but rather to finish and fill in what was already there.
He was talking about the numerous houses that he has built in the long moribund Crooked Creek Subdivision and in empty lots around the town in the last year or so.
A third-generation Floridian and St. Petersburg native, McPherson is owner and co-founder of All County Property Management, a company that is reported to have more than 50 offices across the country and that helps residential property owners and investors realize the best return on their real estate investments.
He also is the founder and president of All County Franchise Corporation, which provides franchisees with the tools for success in residential property management.
How he came to Monticello, McPherson told the HDRB members, was the result of a chain of events. He and his wife had taken a tour of the Southeast Coast about five years ago looking for a new place to live with more of a rural flavor. On the way back, he said, they happened to stop in Monticello, had lunch at the Brickhouse Restaurant, and he took a brief walk of the downtown.
Talking about it afterwards, he said his wife said, “What’s wrong with this place?”
“And here we are,” McPherson said, who has purchased a home on East Washington Street.
“I’m asked what’s my vision,” McPherson said. “I don’t have a vision. I’m like the kid in the candy store. It’s up to the people here to decide what’s it’s going to be. We’re here to clean up and get things done and get people to come here.”