Litigation continues to hold up downtown demolition
Regency House’s history long and complex
TEXARKANA, Ark. — The Regency House is still tied up in litigation with no end in sight.
“We’re still working through it with the attorney and the bond company with the demolition team that caused the damage,” City Manager Jay Ellington said.
Graylee Construction and Demolition of Ward, Arkansas, was held liable for the damages in a 2020 collapse of Regency House, 11o
E. Broad St., that also damaged an adjacent building at 114 E. Broad. No one was injured, but further plans for the demolition were halted due to a cease-and-desist order placed by their insurance company.
Scott Robertson and Dan Butler, owners of the property at 114 E. Broad, filed a lawsuit against the demolition company in November 2020. The plaintiffs gave an estimate of $1.8 million for demolishing, cleaning and rebuilding the property to code.
The history of 110 E. Broad St. is defined through a series of passed hands, a tragic fire and several attempts at entrepreneurship. It also was the start of an era for the company Dillard’s, which was founded by William Dillard.
Later on, Regency House became the place to be in the 1990s if a customer was looking for fine china and cookware.
In the early 2000s, the roof fell to the top floor of the building, leading to the condemnation of the site.
Regency House and the nearby Kress building had previously undergone a series of environmental assessments to gauge the buildings’ viability for redevelopment.
Main Street Texarkana hoped to revitalize and preserve the building through applying for grants, which helped fund projects throughout the downtown area.
Mayor Bob Bruggeman of Texarkana, Texas, and former mayor Arkansas-side
Mayor Wayne Smith shellacked a side of the building with a fiery shade of red to attract businesses. Artist Kathi Couch was commissioned to paint a cityscape mural on another side of the building.
The building’s beauty and durability faded over time, with boarded windows alarming the public and prompting written concerns online.
Regency House was condemend by the city in 2011.
In 2015, A.V.S. International Group Inc., doing business as Guta Lands USA, with a principal address in Fayetteville, Arkansas, bought the property for about $84, according to earlier Gazette reports. The site had an estimated market value of $9,850.
Despite changing ownership, Regency House remained condemned. Multiple attempts by the city to contact the owner failed, so the city moved forward with demolition.
Deconstruction came to a screeching halt in August 2019 when the roof collapsed to the ground floor. No one was injured in the collapse, but it spurred efforts for emergency demolition of the building.
In November 2019, the city was thrown a curveball when Guta Lands reasserted ownership by paying delinquent property taxes, postponing demolition. Still, the Regency House remained condemned, and the city continued demolition after the owner did not obtain a building or demolition permit.
By June 2020, demolition was projected to take about 125 days to complete. By July 2020 and before the collapse, nearly half of Regency House had been dismantled.
Ellington recalled the immediate debris after the building’s collapse.
“I remember sweeping away pieces of wood and brick and trash from the sidewalk so people could walk in front of it safely,” Ellington said.
The city had been granted a $310,000 bond in order to demolish the property, according to a 2020 Gazette report. However, the money could not be used on the adjacent damaged property.
The original cost to demolish Regency House was $500,000.