Demolition planned for Downtown building delayed

By Chris Fortune

A Downtown building that has stood vacant for more than a decade will continue to avoid the wrecking ball, for now.

The city accepted bids to demolish the building at 408 S. Eighth St. near the St. Joseph Fire Department headquarters over a month ago, but bid requests were canceled on May 14.

“We canceled the bids for the Eighth Street property because, in performing the title search, we found there are some issues that need to be resolved before we continue to pursue,” Assistant Fire Chief Jamey McVicker said.

The fire department could not get into the details about what issues they ran into with the title search, but the plan to turn the area into a parking lot remains the same.

Asbestos and lead paint have been found inside the building, and they are deemed hazardous. As a result, there are regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Natural Resources that must be followed.

“All we want to do with this is make a parking lot in our expansion plans for fire headquarters in the future,” he said, “The funding comes from the (Capital Improvements Program) that was just passed here in August.”

There is no timeline for when demolition bids will open again for the property.