What do you think the city should do with Harder Hall?
Post your comments here

I think using it for the city government would be ideal. Yes it is not on Commerce or dowtown.. but it is here, the city owns it, so instead of wasting more time and money they need to use it to make it one stop for everything. DMV, Tags and Tax, Marriages, Divorces, Deeds, Permits, and all of the business and personal resident legal and offical business.
Make it work close with the Welcome center for new residents.. they go to the new Chamber/Welcome Center and then are informed of the new governmental complex for all their needs. So in Harder hall they can have town hall meetings, house the heads of our government locally, even have informational booths or small offices about garbage and bulk pick-up, recycling, water and water restrictions and anything else related to living here and what one MUST know.
THEN they can keep the courthouse downtown JUST for the COURT for crimes, civil suits and the like.  I honestly do not like having to do personal business in the court house, court needs to be seperate form day to do business and resident life.

Those are just my ideas. Maybe some have better.

I think this reader has the right idea, don’t look at harder Hall as a millstone but a fantastic opportunity. We moved to Sebring to retire, bought 6 properties and then we were pasted with unseen 400% tax increases on some of our investments. The next thing I see in the paper is that none of the esential town services has enough room to operate and need very expensive space. Here is the perfect opportunity to showcase SEBRING!!! Install local government offices, rent out to realestate offices, separate some of the more common service offices here, lease out the Kitchen and restaurant facilities to a really first class restarant, we can support that here, turn some of the hotel rooms into office space with a central phone reception and a meeting room where small entepreneurs can meet clients have lunch and conduct business. This would be a great environment for local builders to initiate prospective clients to Sebring, highlight local artists in the Rotunda. What a great boost for SEBRING to be as visual to people coming into town on 27 highway, what a spot for some of the local historical societies to be located, this is a great opportunity that should not be wasted!

I agree. It could be used as a center for all city government, and a focal point for city services. It should be built as a center of a large campus that showcases the city’s operations.

The new Welcome Center is on US 27, not downtown. We need to expand the city’s focus away from an old, congested, center in downtown to include the expanding city border along the U.S. 27 corridor. This Hardell Hall property should be used to compliment the historic district, not to take away from the historic district. Stop seeking buyers, city commissioners, and use the space you decided to invest in a few years ago.

I am glad to see that everyone so far agrees. I felt that this would be a great opportunity for the city is because the building is huge and PINK and you know what?… it is and has always been the sign for us when we used to vacation here that we were IN sebring.  Here is a chance to use one of our landmarks that everyone sees and knows and use it for the benefit of everyone, plus in the long run save the city some major money on upgrades, expansions etc.

Using Harder Hall for city government might not be that easy and practicable. The building would have to be ADA accessible for one thing, and I think that would require an elevator. It would require lots of ADA equiped rest rooms as there’s a specific distance requirement any employee can be from one, but I forget now just what that distance is.

I have no idea what the floor plan is inside and how practical it would be for county government use or if there’s enough non load bearing walls that could be moved to make spaces larger, etc.

In any event, if it could be done I think that would be great. If not, Harder Hall must be put to the best use as I feel this building is a landmark—which it is.

I remember when my wife and I first came to Highlands County in 1997 and we stayed at Inn on the Lakes until we could get into the home we were buying. Our attention was immediately drawn to the pink building and the mystery about it.

I think it’s high time Harder Hall be restored to her former dignity and/or put to use to please and serve Highlands County.

I’m sure folks in the know will come up with some good suggestions.

So far, the folks in the know are suggesting that Harder Hall be demolished if it isn’t sold. One has to ask why the city decided to get involved in this boondoggle project with the Miami developer in the first place, if it wasn’t to preserve the historic significance of this landmark. I see no one protesting this public spectacle of indecision and apparent incompetence by those supposedly in the know.

This landmark is a historic building. Where are the preservationists who could be speaking against demolition? I do not share any confidence that local government will do the right thing and preserve this landmark. I am unsure that all portions of a historic building must comply with ADA - if that were true, most historic buildings would not be accessible by the public. Maybe we can see some reactions and comments from those in the know who can share the rules regarding ADA and historic buildings.

Oh my lord they want to demolish it!!! WHat a sin… someone needs to contact the historical landmark people and see if soemthing can be done. Maybe if word got out the voices of the people could put and end to it...BUT.... like you say there are no public outcry or prostesting being done. That poor building has just been sitting there and no one had stepped up and said ok ok I will take care of it.

MAN I wish Trump could take it..LOL Maybe we should give him a call… LOL Sorry I had to go there. I still think due to it’s age and being what we are calling a landmark, I think they would not be so strict with some of the rules with ADA and all that.

If Harder Hall was going to be renovated to serve the same purpose (and if it hadn’t been defunct for so long), as it once did (preserving it historically) it may not be required to be brought up to ADA standards, at least not full compliance standards. But, if only the building shell is to remain historic and the interior is going to be converted to county office space where the general public must come to conduct offical county business, then there’s little doubt in my mind that the building, grounds, parking areas, etc. would have to be brought up to current ADA standards.

I think the amount (physical and dollar wise) of renovation Harder Hall requires would basically put it in the realm of “new construction,” which requires full compliance ADA incorporation.

Surely, any proposed future use study would include this.  One would hope, anyway.

Ok, thanks Walt. If one assumes you are correct about the ADA requirements, one could argue that the price of land and new construction costs in Sebring for a new city hall would far exceed rehabilitation to the old harder hall campus.

My suggestion is still to limit use of the Harder Hall complex to City of Sebring, not a governmental Highlands County office. Besides, if one can spend 3+ million on a Sports Complex by the Sebring High School, one could spend 10 million, or so, on a City of Sebring government center / campus using the Harder Hall building as the focal point.

I really question why after the project fails are critics in the newspaper (not the posters here) saying it is not financially viable. Shouldn’t the City of Sebring Commission have studied these issues before pumping city tax money to shore up this defunct project with the Miami developer?

Ok, maybe the focus was solely on the hotel use with the Miami developer. But, before these local government officials commit public tax monies to any historic renovation project, shouldn’t worse case scenarios also be considered?

I wish that the City of Sebring would find a way to use the property without demolition, and without selling it to others who may choose to destroy it.

I’m all for your wishes to use it as offices for the city of Sebring. I only threw in my two cents about the ADA as the average Joe (calling for all sorts of potential uses is probably unaware of such requirements and the cost associated with them.

I’ve never been in the Harder Hall building nor seen it’s floor plan. I would suspect the building is highly compartmentalized, seeing as it was a hotel, and the rooms are on the small side, not lending themselves, possibly, to the needs of the city government. Hence, to expand on the room sizes by removing walls, installing new structural supports, HVAC, electric, and on and on, it might be very costly, and the pay back may never materialize.

I have no idea what the costs may be, that’s why I said the folks in the know might have feasability studies done to get the most bang for the buck—by keeping the historic structure.

That’s what I would prefer to see, as I like historic structures and want to preserve such history.

Yes, a developer could raze the building and build upscale, lakefront condos and the county could probably get maximum tax revenue value from the 12 acre property, but is that what Sebring really wants? Heck, I say go to S.E. Florida for that. They have a glut of upscale condos they don’t know what to do with now.

I would propose the powers that be look into all possiblities for Harder Hall keeping the historic building in her grand glory.

I hope some of the commisioners and others who make waves and decisions actually read this forum.... what a great way to see what the chatter is about.
Today I spoke with someone who has lived here all their lives.. in fact one worked in Harder Hall when it was open and he said it could easily be converted into a city complex, yes it has smaller hotel rooms but it also has quite a few/many in fact larger rooms offices banquet halls a grand ballroom etc.

he added that it could also be used as a hotel again with tennis, shuffle boards, pool, banquet halls, restaurant, offices, spa, ballroom and an actual working hotel that could be used by the golf courses.

The chatter is everywhere.. but I just hopes the ones that need to hear it do. I still said Trump would be a great last ditch effort....LOL

Honestly I would love, more than any other option, for someone to finish the restoration and open it up as a hotel. It is a beautiful building with a lot of history, and it is almost a waste to see it serve any function other than the one it was made for. However, if the city really can’t find someone willing to do that, then the biggest priority should be finding a purpose for it that keeps the historic building intact (or as much of it intact as possible) and makes it available for the community to enjoy. A few large old buildings are restored every year, but more are destroyed, and sadly once they are destroyed, they are gone for good. This city is growing, and one day we might look around and realize that all of it’s history is gone, this is an opportunity for this town to preserve some of that history by finding someone to treat this property right. Downtown Sebring is suffering, The Sebring Hotel is gone, the Nan-ces-o-wee is closed, the fact of the matter is most of what is left could be gone before we know it. HTN has a little group of historical photos on their website, many of which are of beautiful buildings that are long gone, some are waiting for someone to come along and save them, some have been given second chances, and some are still chugging along like the Kennilworth. Many cities are not as lucky as we are to still have a chance to preserve, some are more fortunate than us. It is time to make the best of it and do what we can to make sure that we don’t loose buildings like Harder Hall for good.

HTN Site with Sebring historical photos
http://www.htn.net/sebring/history/history.htm

Another monetary consideration I forgot to mention with respect to ADA upgrading requirement at Harder Hall, is fitting the entire building with comphrehensive fire protection systems, i.e., sprinkler systems, halon systems, fire alarms, smoke alarms, heat detectors, etc. as required by the NFPA (National Fire Protection Association).

Donna Scherlacher - 01 August 2007 04:32 PM

What do you think the city should do with Harder Hall?
Post your comments here

Harder Hall should be turned into an exclusive Retirement Resort…

Walt we all understand your concerns aboud ADA compliance and the costs, you have a great insight into the different services needed, but that just all comes down to money and manpower. What the real question is here is servibability, SAVE this building, by using it for local services money that the city wants to spend in new construction can be utilized to both ends, add so called needed space for local government and save an HISTORIC and landmark building. As for the reader who thought our African American residents would like to see it torn down as a bad memory of servitude I’m sure I could think of a dozen buildings I have worked in and collected a salery from that I would like to see distroyed.It is inconveivable to me that if the city wants to save this landmark building that they can’t find a very viable use for it maybe if we put a moratorium on building for the city govenment they would be more than happy to use the space if they need new facilities so desperatly. I have been in the business of converting food and dairy plants to new process’s and uses and I have never seen a project stopped if a customer really wanted it.