Demolition ends on South Marion

The demolition of the former Tienda La Cruz building has come to an end. There are minor steps in the project left to complete but as of Friday morning the three empty buildings on South Marion Avenue, 207, 209 and 211, were nothing but a memory.

The City of Washington owned the buildings and hired Cornerstone Excavating to demolish them. Friday was Cornerstone?s deadline to finish the demolition. Cornerstone filled the basement with sand, which is how the ground will remain over the winter. In the spring, dirt will be hauled in so that grass can be planted there.

City Engineer Rob McDonald said Friday that the sidewalk by the former buildings is still barricaded off but that the barricades will be removed later today and the sidewalk will once again be open to the public.

Originally, Cornerstone was going to put metal sheeting on the south wall of the dentist?s office that once shared a wall with Tienda La Cruz. However, city officials decided that they did not want to put metal siding in the downtown area because the city is encouraging businesses to move away from metal siding. Instead of metal siding the southern wall will be covered in fiber cement.

McDonald said the wall will not be covered in fiber cement until this spring because the weather will make it too difficult to work in the next few months. In the meantime, the city?s maintenance and construction department will cover the wall with a plastic sheet to prevent precipitation from entering the office. McDonald said that some of the wall is already covered in plywood and the city will not put plastic over that. He said the city will put the plastic sheeting on next week.

Washington City Administrator Brent Hinson said that the demolition has gone well and that everything has stayed on schedule, with the single exception of the covering for the dentist?s office.

?We talked about the metal sheeting and people didn?t like the image of that,? he said. ?The fiber cement board will be more attractive.?

Hinson said that the city is looking forward to that lot being developed.

?We?re going to work our hardest to get something constructed there,? he said. ?It?s probably going to be a long and painstaking process to get that done. When you look at the economics, it?s going to be a challenge. We?re putting in the effort that needs to go into it.?

Hinson said that having the buildings demolished and the lots empty is an asset to the city. He said that the absence of the collapsed buildings will make it easier to entice development.

The city has in the past used Tax Increment Financing (TIF) as a way to spur development. TIF funds are monies given to a developer that are taken from the additional property taxes levied on the improved portion of the property. Hinson said the council has not discussed whether it will use TIF funds to encourage development on South Marion.

Hinson said the city would like whatever building is built to have certain characteristics.

?We?d like to see a two-story brick building,? Hinson said. ?We want the building to fit in with the rest of the historic downtown.?

Hinson said he would appreciate any ideas that residents have concerning the development of the properties.

?It?s going to take a lot of work to get the site redeveloped,? he said. ?We?re open to any ideas the public has.?

Hinson can be reached at city hall at 653-6584.