TAMPA, Fla. — During the segregation era, the Jackson House was one of the only places African-Americans could stay while visiting Tampa.

It’s believed prominent people like Martin Luther King Jr. and Ella Fitzgerald once walked the halls.

Today, the historic building is not in good shape. The roof is caved in, the walls are falling apart and there are concerns the building won’t survive another storm.

Tampa Councilman Bill Carlson wants his kids and all who grow up in the city to know the story of the Jackson House.

“It tells the story of segregation,” Carlson said. “The reason why the Jackson House exists is because there were two places that African-Americans could stay when they got off the train at Tampa. And that’s why so many famous people stayed here.”

Back in 2013, the city ordered the building to be destroyed. But the owner, who has since died, asked for Carlson and the greater community to step in to save it.

The two-story, 24-room home was built in the early 1900s. It’s now owned by the Jackson House Foundation, who wants to restore the building and turn it into a museum.

That plan has been stalled because of an on-going negotiation between the foundation, the city and the neighboring property owners to get access to the building. Councilman Carlson said those talks haven’t gotten anywhere in the past couple of year. In order to save the building quickly, he is asking for the foundation to sell the property to the city.

Carlson said the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency previously offered to buy The Jackson House from the foundation, but the organization declined.

“I hope we can all come together as a community,” he said. “This is a community-wide effort. It’s an important building and it has important history connected to it. Everyone in the community should be eager to make this happen. We’ve got the money, we’ve got the right people involved, we’ve got people that care about our community’s history. We just need access to the land next to it.”

If the city takes ownership of the Jackson House, Carlson said the foundation, University of South Florida and the Tampa Bay History Center will all be involved in the restoration and future programming.

Carlson hopes to have options for the historic building’s future by July. The Jackson House Foundation told our news partners at the Tampa Bay Times that they have always recognized selling the property to the city might be a possibility, but they would like to explore other possibilities before doing so.