Old law office on Broad St. sold to local investors
Another Broad Street building changed hands this week.
The property at 324 Broad St. owned by Mike Schieffer — and home to the Hitchcock Allstate insurance Agency — has been sold for $400,000. The buyer is Hickory Mountain Easement LLC, a local firm operated by Harry and Terri Pierce.
Plans for the building are still being finalized, according to Harry Pierce.
The building has a long, rich history in Rome. It was at one time the home to the Rogers, Magruder, Hoyt, Sumner & Brinson law firm.
Realtor Bill Temple said that during the process leading up to the closing, they found in the basement of the building a walled-off room that contained boxes full of documents.
Bob Brinson, who left that firm with King Askew back in 1975, said he’s seen pictures of the documents. He does not think there is anything particularly important in there but said he’s interested in investigating a little deeper.
Brinson said it’s amazing that the paperwork survived a fire that ravaged the building on Christmas night in 1986.
John Jacobs, founder of the Partridge restaurant, bought the building in April 1987. He told his son-in-law Joel Thornton that if he were a younger man he would have torn the building down and created a parking lot for the restaurant.
Thornton said he’s not sure what Jacobs actually planned for the building. The Jacobs family retained the building for a decade before selling it to First Baptist Church of Rome in 1998. The church held it for just six months before selling it again.
The building was ultimately acquired by Rome real estate mogul Larry Martin in 2002. It sat empty for the better part of 30 years after the fire before Martin sold it to Schieffer in 2016 for $339,000.
Hitchcock Insurance, which has been leasing space in the building, has a sign posted on the window indicating that the office is relocating to the Suntrust (now Truist) building, 100 E. Second Ave., Suite 200.
♦ The old Partridge restaurant building, 330 Broad St., is also on the market.
Still owned by the Jacobs family, the building has been leased by Don Neo restaurant for about two years. At one time it was the home of the Gordon Theatre. Evidence of that theatrical heritage is still visible inside the building behind the kitchen area.