Seattle Officials Threaten To Bulldoze Boyhood Home Of Jimi Hendrix

[matcom]

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After repeated warnings and missed deadlines, the city of Seattle is giving the owners of the rundown house where Jimi Hendrix grew up one week to move it or face demolition.

Owner Pete Sikov said he is buying property in Renton, across from the Greenwood Memorial Park where Hendrix is buried, and plans to move the house there. But it will take time, he said.

"It has become a kind of contest between me and the mayor's office to see if we can move it before they can demolish it," Sikov said yesterday

Three years ago the dilapidated house, owned by Hendrix's father from 1953 until 1956, was moved a few blocks from its original Central Area address to make way for a housing development.

The city offered a vacant lot at 2010 S. Jackson St., giving supporters a chance to find a permanent location or buy the land and fix up the house. The James Marshall Hendrix Foundation wants to turn the home into a youth center focused around music.

In a confusing back-and-forth exchange, the city now says the foundation never made an offer to buy the property, and members of the foundation say the city changed its mind about selling them the site.

In either case, the city insists the house must now be moved.

John Franklin, director of departmental operations for the mayor's office, said the city doesn't have other plans for the property at the moment.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/227642_hendrix08.html