UA Will Purchase Former Clinton Home
A&P Commission Wants To Partner With UA
Last updated Wednesday, December 15, 2004 10:16 PM CST in News
By Sarah Terry
The Morning News
FAYETTEVILLE -- The University of Arkansas plans to acquire the former Fayetteville home of President Clinton.
An offer from the UA to purchase the house at 930 California Blvd. was in the works Wednesday, said Don Pederson, vice chancellor for finance and administration.
Pederson said staff members worked Wednesday to draft an offer but he didn't know the current status or an exact price of the UA's offer.
James and Janet Greeson, who have lived in the house since 1983, are selling it because of increased traffic in the area. The Greesons did not return calls placed to their home Wednesday.
The couple approached the Fayetteville Advertising & Promotion Commission in November about buying the house. They told commissioners Monday they wanted an offer on the house by Wednesday.
Marilyn Heifner, executive director of the commission, said the short time frame prevented the commission from acquiring the house Wednesday.
"We're not going to make an offer," she said.
The one-bedroom, one-bathroom house was built in 1931. Bill and Hillary Clinton lived in the home from August 1973 to December 1976 and were married there Oct. 11, 1975, while they were members of the University of Arkansas' law school faculty.
The commission considered buying the house for a museum of the Clintons' time in Fayetteville, using memorabilia and photographs to catalog their experience.
The group spent $1,000 to appraise the house and conduct a structural engineering assessment. Real Estate Consultants appraised the 1,790-square-foot home at $199,000 -- $40,000 less than other appraisals of the home, according to the Greesons who wanted $285,000 to $300,000 for it.
The structural assessment said the house is functional but needs about $75,000 in improvement, such as strengthening the floor frames and repairing a separation wall in the basement that is dislodged.
Heifner said the commission wants to work with the UA and Clinton Foundation to open the house to the public.
"That could be a potential big draw for us," she said.
Pederson said the house could be used for a "number of different things," including space for additional offices or city use.
"We intend to work with the city to see if they would have interest in using the house," he said. "We have no definite plans, but there are lots of uses that could be made of it."
President Clinton's book "My Life" contained several references to the house, such as wallpapering the breakfast nook, plastering the walls in the living room and sleeping in the screened-in porch during the summer. The porch was enclosed in the mid-1990s.
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