Complaint prompts emergency demolition
Bricks were falling from the air Thursday as a construction crew began tearing down the old Liberty Office Equipment building on Sixth Street across from Marion Public Library in Marion, IN.
The city issued an emergency order to demolish the building, located at 112 W. Sixth St., because bricks had been falling into an alley and hitting the neighboring Sinai Temple, said Larry Oradat, Marion building inspector.
"It's to a point where it's falling, and someone could get hurt," Oradat said.
The building has been empty for more than a decade and has fallen into disrepair. The roof had collapsed, and the inside floors were starting to cave in, Oradat said.
The city feared that with the open roof, if enough rain fell into the building, the walls would cave outward, he said.
Miller Construction had to start out slow by tearing down the back wall of the building by hand. That's because its just inches from the building behind it, home to Automotive Color and Supply.
The precaution ended up collapsing the second floor of the building, though, as the weight of the bricks falling on it became too much, said Don Miller, co-owner of Miller Construction.
"It's just rotten," Miller said.
He predicted his crew would have the back wall torn down by the end of the day Thursday. A crane would then be used to tear down the rest of the building, which should take another day or two, Miller said.
The building is owned by Munitax LLC, a company based in West Virginia, Oradat said. The company bought it at a tax sale in 2005, he said.
The city had talked to Munitax about making repairs on the property, but the company had failed to do anything, Oradat said, and the situation had become dangerous.
Oradat was unsure of what would happen to the property, though he added that the city had suggested Munitax donate it to the library.
The library could use it for extra parking or turn it into an outside seating area, Oradat said.
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