Document text
CLEAR Temp: 55 °F Wind: CLM at 0 mph Thursday, November 21, 2002 SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA HomeLife Magazine W3 Magazine Jobs @ Mail Tribune Tempo A & E Oregon CarZone Wellness Connection Real Estate Newspaper in Education Prime Times Outdoor Journal Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find Everything E SOUTHERN OREGON Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar ABOUT US FAQ What's New Advertise Home Delivery Classified Ad Contact Us Media Kit Email Story to a Friend September 23, 2002 Pawn shop buys Central Point Masons’ site By BUFFY POLLOCK for the Mail Tribune CENTRAL POINT — Only months after members of the Central Point Masonic Lodge declared they would consider any and all offers in the sale of their Pine Street home of 80 years, the century- old site has been sold for $300,000 to Cash Connection pawn shops. Brian Patridge, who owns five Cash Connection stores along with his parents Bill and Barbara Patridge, said the 7,000-square-foot building was purchased because it had a lot of historic appeal — which would be improved upon — and offered more space and better parking than their existing Central Point location. The shop, currently two blocks down Pine Street, became a Cash Connection store three years ago. It was purchased as Gordon’s Pawn Shop eight years ago and has been a pawn shop for 25 years. "We needed a larger building, and we wanted to stay in Central Point, so this was a good opportunity to sort of revamp a historic building," said Patridge. "We’re trying to help beautify the downtown, and this is a really neat old building. We’re looking forward to fixing it up." Patridge said he expected improvements to the building to range between $150,000 and $200,000. As part of the sale agreement, which was finalized Thursday, the Masons will reimburse the Patridges $15,000 to replace the building’s old turnbuckle style roof. The design was common at the turn of the century and had to be "tuned." It will be removed because it contains asbestos. Other renovations include replacing old windows, repainting the inside and outside of the building and paving the dirt lot next door for a parking lot. The old swimming pool, used by the YMCA from 1905 to 1922 and transformed into office space by the Masons, will be kept, as well as the old floors. Patridge expected the new location to be ready for use by Christmas or early 2003. Lodge Secretary Bill Best said the Masons hope for a similar timeline in their new venture. With the sale of the old lodge finalized, the Masons are moving forward with plans to construct a 10,000-square-foot lodge on Hamrick Road next to the Central Point Masonic Cemetery they maintain. The portion of the cemetery on which the lodge will be built was recently "undedicated" by county commissioners to meet legal requirements of building on a dedicated burial site. Preliminary designs for the new lodge have been prepared. "We’re hoping, and this is a big hope, but we’d really like to be in there by Christmas," Best said. While lodge members are sad to leave the lodge, Best said maintenance had become too costly and older members had difficulty climbing stairs to get to meetings. "It’ll be different not having the old place after all these years. We kinda regret losing it in one sense ... but we’re really excited about building the new lodge. It’s going be top-notch and will cost much less for us to keep up with," said Best. Buffy Pollock is a free-lance writer living in Medford. E-mail her at [email protected] Printer Friendly Version Email Story to a Friend Subscribe Archive: Click to Search Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright 1997-2002 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy webmaster feedback A D V E R T I S E R S