PHOENIX — They just wanted to retire.
Craig and Marilyn Milum shuttered their commercial laundry business five years ago and sold the company Craig’s father started in the 1950s.
But the couple, now in their 70s, held on to the 2.4 acres of land near Seventh Avenue and Van Buren Street.
Their piece of downtown is worth a lot of money — about $10 million. A developer could put a 600-foot skyscraper on it or build hundreds of new apartments; the land is zoned for all that.
However, groups like Preserve Phoenix, which protects historic properties around the city, argue that the 45,000-square-foot laundry facility that remains at 333 N. 7th Ave. is worth even more. In their opinion, its vaulted, wooden Lamella roof is priceless.
The Milums don’t see anything worth preserving at Milum’s Textile Services, formerly known as Phoenix Laundry. Their facility washed hospital gowns and hotel bed sheets.
The Milums still pay taxes on the property they want nothing to do with.
The building has been empty for years, although the Milums have called police to chase out trespassers. The couple shut off all utilities after a group of people moved in with a couch and TV. They are constantly having to pay a handyman to board up broken windows.
The Milums said they had no idea the property was considered eligible for historic designation in 1984 — although it never achieved that status.
When the Milums applied to demolish the building last October, the City of Phoenix denied their permit.
The roof was the culprit: Lamella roofs were popularized between the first and second world wars, held together by the tension of different roof pieces against each other. Some of the wood is beginning to crack.
The Milums appealed the decision. In addition to the building being their retirement nest egg, they were worried about the liability of owning a 90-year-old roof that had been weakened by more than a century of chemicals and steam.
The City’s Historic Preservation Office initiated the process to re-zone more than half of the Milum’s 2.4-acre property to create a historic preservation overlay.
“We are being held hostage,” Marilyn said. “The city is making it impossible for us to actually sell the property.”
That new zoning and historic designation, the Milums fear, would make their property far less valuable. The potential buyer would have to preserve the old laundry facility. The Milums claim it would take millions of dollars just to bring the old building back up to code.
Nine developers interested in their property, currently listed for sale at $9.2 million, have backed out.
“Developers are not interested in buying it under these conditions,” Marilyn said.
The Milums kept fighting against the historic preservation zoning, which was approved by the City’s Historic Preservation Commission in February and greenlighted by the Village Planning Commission in March.
The Milums kept appealing.
Then, the City’s Planning Commission recommended the zoning request be denied.
Commissioners determined that although the property meets historic preservation criteria, the wants and wishes of the Milums were more important.
But their fight was still not over.
Preserve Phoenix appealed the Planning Commission’s decision and asked the Phoenix City Council to weigh in.
“We felt like we had been stripped of our rights as Americans in owning our own property and this should have never taken place,” Marilyn said.
Finally, on September 4, the Milums would get an answer. During Wednesday’s city council meeting, the couple walked up to the podium to address the council, but before they could let out a word, councilman Carlos Galindo-Elvira made a motion to deny the historic preservation request.
It passed 8-1.
“Thank you very much, you did the right thing,” Marilyn told council members.
After leaving the meeting, Marilyn cried as she hugged her husband.
“When you have weights around your neck, you are not going to enjoy life,” Marilyn said.
While relieved, the couple said the long delay cost them money and delayed their retirement.
“Millions of opportunities and things we had planned on investing in and things we had planned on doing, yes, it has cost us millions,” Marilyn said. “I’m very pleased that it was put to rest because they know that this was wrong.”
In a statement to 12News, the City’s Historic Preservation Office said:
The Historic Preservation Commission may recommend historic preservation overlay zoning for a property if it possesses historical significance and maintains historical integrity. Historical integrity includes factors such as design, location, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association to convey its significance. Once a recommendation is made, the case is reviewed through a public hearing process to ensure the property owner and the public have the opportunity to have their voice heard. The Village Planning Committee and Planning Commission review the case and the final determination is made by the Phoenix City Council.
“You can’t just force the Milum’s to lose millions of dollars because you want to save something,” the Milum’s attorney, Paul Lavelar said.
The Milums are now re-applying for their demolition permit.
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