Elks put lodge up for sale

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Exalted Ruler Dave Roberts sits in the Medford Elks lodge Tuesday. The property is priced at $2.5 million.

MEDFORD — With their historic and stately classical temple on Central Avenue growing old with its declining membership, the Medford Elks have decided to put the three-story structure and adjacent property up for sale at $2.5 million.

With the money, they plan to buy a new single-story lodge — more accessible to older Elks — or build one, with earnings on assets paying increasingly costly upkeep and energy bills. The lot for sale includes the temple at Central and Fifth as well as a retail site at Central and Fourth.

"This building has meant everything to us, but we're just getting by financially ...," said Exalted Ruler Dave Roberts, looking over the vast lodge hall that, a generation ago, held 1,700 members.

Now, membership is just under 500 — and many Elks can't climb the temple's stairs, Roberts said.

Through its 93 years in its original spot, the lodge provided a meeting place and social hub for business people and their charitable activities, he adds. But the ranks have shriveled since the 1970s because "what they stood for didn't get passed onto the next generation. The average (member) age now is well over 50. The new generation is not that charitable-minded."

In comparison, the Elks Lodge in downtown Ashland reported a membership of 800 when the city honored that lodge with a proclamation in 2005.

Ashland Lodge Exalted Ruler Elect Criss Garcia said his lodge has a membership of about 700 now. He said the lodge had a peak of 2,000 members years ago and has seen a decline typical among fraternal organizations nationwide. But he expects membership to grow to 800 in the next year.

Garcia, 35, said providing activities the keep the lodge relevant with its members has been "a winning formula for us." As has recruiting quality members to replace those who leave through lapse in membership or death.

Garcia said the oldest member among the lodge's officers is 42 years old, and he estimated 20 percent or more of the overall membership is younger than 30, 30 percent younger than 40. The downtown Ashland lodge benefits from being in a college town, he said, with access to a potential crop of new members.

The Medford lodge temple has attracted many potential buyers, including a large retailer and McMenamins Pub & Brewery, but ReMax broker Yvonne Fox, an Elk member, said no offers have been made as yet.

"It's a one-of-a-kind building and we want to be careful who we sell it to. Its use has to be good for the community and keep it open to the community," said Fox.

McMenamins purchases historic properties with a community identity and converts them into brewpubs, hotels with theaters, concert venues and even a winery. The closest McMenamins is in Roseburg, with most of its properties in the Portland/Salem area.

Members who voted for the Medford temple's sale had come to accept they need a more practical, affordable and accessible space, notes Fox, adding that Elks are looking at buying the space left by JJ North's on Riverside or building a new 9,000-square-foot building on 3 acres on Table Rock Road.

The lodge also hopes to support itself with earnings from the sale of 14 acres it owns on the Rogue River near Eagle Point, as soon as it clears a Measure 49 case with the state, said Roberts.

The white-columned temple, designed in 1915 by Rogue Valley architectural legend Frank Clark, has about 30,000 square feet and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It has a grand dance hall on the top floor and has been used for the Medford Jazz Jubilee.

In addition to big Corinthian columns on the grand staired entrance, it had two ranks of columns on either side, one of which was razed in the 1960s to make space for a card room, said Lodge secretary Marilee McLoughlin.

"It's beautiful but aging, and we don't have the membership or income to maintain this large a building," said McLoughlin.

Fox added, "There's nothing like this building and it has lots of history and memories, but members decided it's time to be smart about it and move forward."

The Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks, founded in 1868 and now with more than a million members, is dedicated to good works — locally with eye clinics, scholarships, youth activities and veterans. The Elks have another lodge in Ashland

John Darling is a freelance writer living in Ashland. E-mail him at jdarling@jeffnet.org.Assistant City Editor Scott T. Smith contributed to this report.

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