Former store’s future explored

Two proposals for a former downtown Franklin antiques shop building call for updating the building and turning it into either a banquet hall or a visitor center.

The former G.C. Murphy building, 56-58 E. Jefferson St., has been owned by a local government since 2009 after the former owner sold it to county government. Since then, the building has remained vacant and has been swapped with two other governments.

The structure is now owned by the Franklin Redevelopment Commission, which wants to turn over ownership to someone else. The city board asked for proposals for the building, and got two.

One was from a local businessman who wants to be given the building but who would pay for remodeling and repairs and turn it into a catering business and banquet facility, redevelopment commission member Bob Heuchan said. The other was from the Franklin Chamber of Commerce, which wants the city board to still own the building and pay the utility bills. The chamber would open and run a visitor center and its own offices.

This story appears in the print edition of Daily Journal. Subscribers can read the entire story online by signing in here or in our e-Edition by clicking here.