Fort Wright Civic Association Building: A New Community Center?

The City of Fort Wright purchased the Fort Wright Civic Club building and property in March 2024. Now it is faced with the task of finding a new purpose for the property. While it has been used primarily as a polling place in recent years, the City believes the site could be more.

City Administrator Jill Bailey explained how they acquired the Fort Wright Civic Club property.

“The board of the Fort Wright Civic Club was faced with a difficult decision about how to continue operating their facility,” Bailey said. “(…) They were seeing a significant decline in membership and low rental income for the facility, which was their primary source of income.”

The building had outstanding utilities and the organization had an outstanding balance of $1,714.83 on its 2023 property tax bill. The board voted to donate the entire property to the City of Fort Wright. In exchange, Fort Wright wrote off its outstanding tax balance and covered the cost of these additional utilities as well as some legal fees.

“In total, it cost about $9,000,” Bailey said.

Fort Wright then commissioned CT Consultants to evaluate the site and building for functionality and accessibility.

The assessment that CT Consultants presented to the city was not very flattering.

The building itself is infested with black mold and the exterior walls lack insulation. Among other issues, the bathrooms and parking lot are not ADA compliant. Because of these problems, as well as other issues with the heating, ventilation, air conditioning and electrical systems, CT Consultants gave the Fort Wright Civic Club building a “poor” rating for functionality.

Mayor Dave Hatter told LINK nky he did not expect such a dire forecast.

Following CT Consultants’ presentation, Hatter shared his perspective and asked the company for insights.

“The current division doesn’t make much sense in my opinion,” said Hatter. “Can this building still be saved? Should we tear it down and start over?”

Michael Anderson, senior architect at CT Consultants, informed the council about some of its future decisions.

“I think there are several ways to save it and rehabilitate it,” Anderson said. “It’s a gut renovation. It’s a good-sized building, but it has a lot of steps and elevation changes. The site is a problem in terms of parking because you can’t lower the building, so you have to raise the site. The slope from the building to the parking lot is too great for ADA accessibility.”

They could also tear down the building and start a new one, or sell the whole thing to developers. When the Fort Wright Civic Club board donated the site to the city, it did not specify the future of the property. The city council is not yet ready to make any decisions.

“We don’t have a purpose for this site yet,” said Council Member Margie Witt. “Until we know what we’re using it for, we don’t know if it will be better used through renovation or demolition.”

“From what I see, there’s just a damn fire hazard,” said Councilman Justin “Jay” Weber.

The council has decided to look at its options and better flesh out its goals for the space. It has decided to put together a working group to discuss it. Currently, that group may consist of Hatter, Councilor Witt, and Councilors Dave Abeln and Scott Wall, who grew up in the neighborhood of the former civic club.

LINK asked Abeln what the Fort Wright Civic Club means to his neighborhood.

“We could walk there,” Abeln said. “That’s where we had the Cotton Follies. That’s where the parents went on Friday nights. There were festivals there every summer. It worked for us for more than 50 years.”

Abeln also spoke about the future of the site.

“I don’t know if the building can still be saved or if we want to save it,” said Abeln. “But as long as we respect its historical value, we can give it a new look and pursue similar purposes.”

Hatter also sees some potential to use the site as a community center again.

“From the perspective of potentially building a community center, this site is much larger than the property we have from the South Hills Civic Club,” Hatter said.

The city purchased the South Hills Civic Club before it purchased the Fort Wright Civic Club. The Fort Wright Civic Club also has the advantage of not being “crammed” into a residential area.

“The Fort Wright Civic Club has played an important role in the city practically since its inception,” Hatter said. “It’s important to memorialize it in some way if we do in fact demolish the building. This was very generous of the board and the site is very promising.”

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