Trending
In the last three years, the City Council of Webster City has become increasingly wary of the safety of downtown's 100+ year old brick buildings. Monday night, at its regularly-scheduled second meeting of September, Council took decisive action; voting unanimously to finish acquiring and demolish four buildings in the 500 block of Second Street.
The city already owned 545 and 547 on the north side of Second Street; it bought two buildings owned by Chris McNeil at 518 and 520 Second in the last two weeks, paying $62,500 for them.
That sale is scheduled to close on or before November 30.
The decision to demolish came after confirming the condition of each building. Engineering studies showed all were in poor condition. Some were in danger of collapse, and barricaded, preventing people from going inside or near the buildings. Council wanted strategic oversight of downtown before taking further action. It asked the Hamilton County Growth Partnership to form a committee for the purpose. Members included Realtor Tyler Abens, Development Director Ariel Bertran, City Attorney Zach Chizek, downtown business owners Monica Haberman and Andy Hejlik, and HCGP Executive Director Ottie Maxey.
The committee quickly set a goal of removing barricades from downtown. The four buildings behind two of those barricades are those mentioned above, bought from private owners.
Development Director Ariel Bertran told The Daily Freeman Journal she believes there are firms capable of, and interested in the demolition work. She is optimistic she will be able to bring a qualified, low bid to Council for a decision and award at its November 2,meeting.
The demolition will require careful planning and execution as 545 shares a common interior brick wall with Ace Hardware and 520 a common wall with Dawson & Bertran Investment Advisors. The scope of work includes asbestos removal. Asbestos was in common use from the 1940s-70s, and was commonly used in renovating older brick buildings such as those downtown.
A fifth building, 707 Second St. is in better condition. After engineering studies, the city council voted to buy it from Lotus Community Project. Monday, it voted to spend $74,620 for Grell Roofing of Ft. Dodge, to put a new PVC roof on the building yet this fall. It also approved a $91,367 contract with Vincent Tuckpointing, Vincent for cleaning, masonry repairs and re-laying up to 1,000 bricks in the building's east wall. The work can't be done in cold weather so is scheduled for next spring. That east wall is the site of the third downtown barricade, bordering Reveiz Park.
Bertran expects Lotus Treasures to remain open until tuckpointing begins. It would then close and move out until repairs are complete. The city applied for a $100,000 emergency catalyst grant from the state to help pay for this project. Bertran told the city council Monday she received conditional approval for the grant. Other costs will be paid for from Riverview TIF funds.
When completed, 707 Second St. will be put up for sale, with hopes a developer will finish the interior for a client, or bring a new business to the space itself. 707 will become the second downtown building for sale by the city. It still owns 608 Second St., the former Bettis Appliance store, hoping for a developer in a similar deal. That building needs interior finish work before it can be occupied.
"Tonight's vote is fundamentally about protecting public safety. Structural engineering reports on these properties consistently show buildings that are significantly past their useful life, lack structural integrity, and pose active safety risks," Bertran said considering the city council actions. "While we actively pursue every viable opportunity to revitalize our downtown, the cost analyses for rehabilitation simply do not pencil out."
Councilman John Marvel, a downtown building and business owner, expressed similar sentiments.
"We've done all we can to preserve historic buildings downtown, but at some point we need to move on," he said. "Ariel has done a good job of pushing this ahead. It's sad in some ways, but moves us forward."
Downtown remains the largest source of sales tax collection in Hamilton County. Its survival and viability is an essential part of the aggressive economic development policy Council has been pursuing in recent years. Now it has shown it will use public money to deal with downtowns decaying brick buildings.