Franklin County agrees to spend 67 thousand dollars on Chapman auditorium roof repair

The Franklin county Commission has agreed to spend 67 thousand dollars to repair the roof on the Historic Chapman building in Apalachicola.

The Chapman building is the northernmost example of art deco in the state of Florida; a study by the University of Florida called it one of the 11 most endangered historic buildings in the state.

A portion of the building is leased to a medical office, and there is a large auditorium in the building which is sometimes used by the Apalachicola Bay Charter School.

Franklin County recently received a $50,000 Historic Preservation Grant to repair the roof over the auditorium but found out after the grant had been awarded that the structural integrity of the roof has been compromised; and the county does not have grant money to cover the additional repairs.

The problem is bad enough that pieces of wood have fallen on to the stage from the ceiling.

Commissioners said it would be a waste of money to put a new exterior roof over a structure that has rotten wood under the roof so they decided to cover the additional cost themselves using money from the county capital outlay budget.

The good news is the architect revised the cost estimate down from 150 thousand dollars to $67 thousand.

Commissioners said it is important that whoever gets the contract for the work has to know that there is no additional money for this project, so the job cannot exceed the budget.

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