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Story Mansion Debacle
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Story Mansion
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| My own feelings is that the city should keep ownership of it but not do anything to the property including not mowing the lawn. They should let the mansion fall into disrepair. One thing that I don't think Bozeman has and could really use for the sake of our children is a haunted house. There were a few in the vicinity of where I grew up and I think they were important in the deveolopment of my imagination. So that is what I'd like the Story Mansion to become. | |
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Story
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| sell it | |
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SAE House
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| Sell it to the law firm. It's a win-win. Although Uptown's suggestion would be my second choice. (Just kidding.) | |
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Lease the Story
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If the city owns the property, why not lease it and simply use anyprofits for the elemntary, middle and high schools? A 3 person team for charge of the property should be sufficient, with the commision overseeing all aspects of its care. |
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RE: Lease the Story
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| Because you cannot charge enough rent to make it pay for itself it will forever be subsidized by our tax dollars. | ||
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Story Mess
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| Sell it! | |
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Mansion on Willson
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It's part of our local history. To lease it you need a manager. The city is not the entity to be in charge of that. I don't understand why the lawfirm was prevented from buying it. They'd be good managers. But, the future of this building would then be in the hands of private citizens who may/may not care about its historic value in the future. The city has already spent tax dollars on it & had it repainted/cleaned up so getting it back into use ASAP somehow is the best option. |
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RE: Mansion on Willson
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| I don't know much about real estate law, but I wonder if it would be possible to build in some kind of preservation clause in the sales contract? Or maybe have it included on the National Historic Registry before selling it to a private entity? Food for thought. | ||
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story mess
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| It should be sold. The 2nd and 3rd floor are a mess and in total disrepair. We want to preserve the building and that doesn't mean that the city has to do it. It will be impossible to have enough revenue from rentals to even pay for the upkeep, much less the needed repairs. Some of our city fathers/mothers are not listening to the taxpayers. | |
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Not quite Nelson Story but close enough for me.
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Read "The Bloody Bozeman." Nelson Story was a young man, who was brave and wise. He made his fortune in his early to mid twenties gold mining in the early 1860's. He took that fortune and invested it in Longhorn Cattle which he purchased in Texas. Keep in mind, this was a period of time when traveling into the territory was truly putting your life at risk. If the Indian's didn't take your scalp for stealing their land, the "Road Agents" might. Story brought about 2000 cattle up from Texas, with the help of about two dozen hired "cowboys." We can only imagine a trip with thousands of cattle, through Indian territory and into Bozeman City where a few cabins had been built. The guy was incredible. So this "Story Mansion" is a question for taxpayers. I think that as above, the taxpayers cannot afford it, but it really must be preserved. So if there is some way to legally enforce that it be restored, and preserved if sold, I say go for it. Really this town should be called "Story, Montana." It was "Nelson Story" who created stability in Gallatin Valley, at much risk financially and pysically to himself. He had much to loose, and at that time it was a gamble. Too bad Bozeman taxpayers prefer to throw away their money on bad contractors who construct poor quality public works projects such as the jail, and characterless roads like N. 19th Corridor which provide the generic products most Bozemanite's desire and can afford. Yes, I know that this home is not the original mansion built by Nelson Story, but was built by one of his heirs. The original "Story Mansion" built by Nelson Story was located on Main Street and was demolished years ago. Not a single structure has ever come close to such beauty in this valley. Preserve the one that's left, but not at taxpayer expense. (Federal/Grants or Local) Just can't afford it. Let the attorney's buy it. They've got a history of working with historical properties. For the record: John Bozeman was a womanizer who abandon his wife and four little daughters back east and had no plans to return to gather them up ever and bring them to Montana. John Bozeman was an "opportunist," much like Mike Delaney today, except that Delaney has made quite a bit more money. The "Bozeman Trail" was really the work of John Jacobs, not John Bozeman. As is the case, many times those who should receive credit, do not get the credit they are due. Ahhh well. One last thing to cvonsider. The City of Bozeman and MSU had no respect or concern for the property while the SAE Fraternity beat the living crud out of it for how many years? That's just Bozeman... |
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Sell it.
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| Sell it and throw a big party when its sold. | |
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City government needs to focus on needs of community
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It should be sold and held as a private piece of property. I get the impression that the city government enjoys tying up valuable property that could otherwise provide opportunities for individuals. Their reasoning is unclear, but I get the impression that it is more an issue of them not wanting someone to have a valuable piece of property instead of their position claiming to provide the community with something beneficial. It looks as though they see the value of the property and can't afford it themselves so they use tax dollars to keep it from going to someone who does have the money to purchase it. There is an opportunity now to sell the property to a group of people that have offered to preserve the property. Consider that there may be a day that this property is a burden on the community and has to be sold in order to raise revenue. Should the city government be allowed to make a profit on the sale? The City of Bozeman is not a business and shouldn't be getting into the the speculative procurement of property. There is no clear plan on how this property is going to be a benefit to the local community if the city owns the property. This isn't the only piece of property that they've done this with, but this one is getting some attention. They need to focus on schools, transportation, growth planning, fiscal responsibility, and economy. Bozeman is a cowboy town that was built on farming, ranching, opportunity, and adventure. If we want to preserve the heritage of Bozeman let's continue to create history instead of focussing on preserving it. That doesn't mean that we shouldn't preserve things, but I'd rather see it done through partnering with private sector business if anything is done at all. Bozeman (or Montana for that matter) wasn't built on people holding hands dancing through a field of daisies while they wait for the local government to come and draw them a bath. I'm getting a little tired of seeing the local government putting their fingers into places they don't belong. If we continue as we are we'll kill the culture of Montana and just have a bunch of museums and buildings to walk through and talk about how Bozeman used to be. |
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Who's Dream is this?
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In the May 6, 2008 edition of the Bozeman Daily Chronicle commission Sean Becker is quoted as saying: “This is a step towards the smallest change that we can make using the least amount of money possible while keeping the dream of public access to Story Mansion alive” I'm curious who it is that has this dream? It's also interesting that it is going to cost $49,000 for an estimate. That's silly. As soon as they spend a dime on determining the feasibility of the project the debate is over. They will begin to talk about how much they've "invested" and discuss what a shame it would be to lose that money. Don't spend it and get on with solving problems instead of creating a new one that could otherwise be passed along to private parties. Spend money where it needs to be spent and on things you can afford. They're talking about getting a $500,000 federal grant, but they need to spend 3-5 times as much as the grant in order to complete the project. It's kind of like living in Alaska and having someone offer to sell you a new Ferrari for $50,000, but you only have $20,000 that is earmarked for food and housing. Fortunately, one of your friends says that he'll pick up the tab for the remaining $30,000 because it's always been his dream that you have a Ferrari and all he wants in return is a ride. You agree since you know that the Ferrari is really worth $500,000 and it's a great buy. You figure that you can always sell it and turn a profit if you have to and can't believe that no one else is jumping at the offer. You finally get your Ferrari and give you friend a ride, go on a few dates, and write to your parents about how you've finally living your dream in Alaska. Unfortunately it becomes apparent that you can't afford to live your dream and decide that you need to sell the Ferrari. The problem is that you are living in Alaska and there is no market for Ferraris so you eventually starve to death while you wait for someone to bail you out of a situation you should never have gotten into. |
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Story Mansion
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| SELL IT AS A SINGLE FAMILY HOME. When a precident is established by a zoning change and that will be a requirement for the proposed story mansion park it will be something other neighbors can do too. So one day all of Willson could become a commercial district because story mansion has a zoning change. | |
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Maybe the Delaney's could buy it?
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Really, not a joke. In fact, maybe they could buy that entire area of Bozeman. It is a dump for the most part. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we know which properties are not the dumps, so don't go there. Ouch! |
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Story Mansion
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I can't believe the city commissioners want to waste more of the tax payers money,They should have sold it to the Goetz law firm.If there only going to allow the public 12 days a year to use the Mansion,there going to have to charge fees out of this world,then who would rent it?I supose they only want the very rich to use it and keep it from local natives.Make no mistake all Gallatin County tax payers will eventually pick up the tab.SELL IT Thanks E |
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Sell Story Mansion
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| I have made the city an offer to buy Story Mansion and make it a single family home but still open it up to the public for tours yearly as well as having the lawn available for certain events as a park like setting while being privatly owned and puting it back on the tax roles. The city should put its money to a better use since they have a single family willing to agree to their stipulations and spending our own money for restorations of the ENTIRE house and not just the first floor. This property has been vacant way too long and it is time to get a family in there to start much needed restorations. Lets all work together to get this on a ballot for a vote and get something done..... We all love Story Mansion, let our single family purchase it and share it with all of you! Gina Franklin | |
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COST OF REPAIRS FOR STORY
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| The city does not need to pay $49k to figure out the cost of repairs to Story Mansion. They already have a 300 page architectual assement stating that the cost of repairs total between 3-5 million dollars. Why do we need to pay for another one???? | |
