Document text
Central Point Masons seek new building By BUFFY POLLOCK After 80 years at the two-story yellow building on Pine Street - half of which has been spent trying to get a new facility - members of the Central Point Masonic Lodge are ready to strike a deal. "Basically, we will accept bids for someone to build us a new place in trade for our old one," said lodge representative Jerrell Brown. "Or they can just buy the old one outright." Brown said a new building had been needed for decades, but the push for relocation intensified when the lodge acquired 10 acres along Hamrick Road in 1990. That land was annexed into the city last week by the City Council, paving the way for the Masonic Lodge to build. The existing 7,000-square-foot lodge, next-door to Key Bank, is priced at $325,000. Tentative plans for the new lodge call for a one-story, 8,500-square-foot structure with a meeting room, kitchen and dining room. The lodge will be on 1.7 acres north of the Masonic Cemetery. A parking lot will be shared by a nearby city park. Brown said early estimates for a new facility ranged from $500,000 to $800,000, depending on materials and design styles chosen. Brown said upgrading the old building's electrical system and plumbing and making general repairs would cost more than building a new structure. "Basically, to do any remodeling, we would have to bring the entire thing to code, which would cost more to do that than we have," said Brown. In addition, the old lodge has an aging membership that "isn't too keen on climbing three flights of stairs for the meetings" and a lack of air conditioning that keeps members away during the summer, Brown said. Secretary Bill Best, who has compiled the lodge's history, said records indicate a push to move from the Pine Street building as early as the 1950s. The Masonic Lodge was originally founded in 1908 and moved from what early records referred to as the "GAR building" to the Pine Street location in 1922. The building was the site of the Central Point YMCA from 1905 until 1922, when it was purchased by the lodge for $2,000 at a sheriff's auction. The pool in the basement was converted to a furnace and office space. The lodge is home to Masons, Order of the Eastern Star, White Shrine, Daughters of the Nile and Job's Daughters. Best said that ideally, construction of the new building could start as early as summer and lodge meetings could be temporarily held at other facilities. "But the key to this whole thing is the selling of that building," Best said. A brick sale is being held to raise additional funds for the new facility. For information on the brick fund-raiser or the building, contact the lodge at 664-1966. Buffy Pollock is a free-lance writer living in Medford. E-mail her at [email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.