The City of Knox is moving closer to revitalizing a dilapidated downtown building. The city has been trying to take possession of 8 South Main Street, after a portion of the roof collapsed and the owner failed to pay most of the fine.
Mayor Dennis Estok told the city council Tuesday that the city has gotten a contractor to demolish part of the building but keep part of it for future rehabilitation. “We got a very good bid to do that, to tear it down,” Estok explained. “Plus, he’s going to build a back wall for us, to enclose it.”
During Wednesday’s board of works meeting, Director of Building and Code Compliance Kenny Pfost said that one of the two judgments listed in a recent title check has since been released, and now he’s requesting a release of the second one. Board members authorized city officials to notify the remaining lien-holder and the current owner of the city’s intent to demolish. Estok said the contractor will probably be ready to go within a couple weeks.
During Tuesday’s council meeting, the mayor said the rehabilitation portion of the work could be eligible for a historic preservation grant, but only if the building isn’t owned by the city at that point. “What we can do is we can hold the mortgage on that,” Estok said. “So whatever it costs us to demo that, which is about $42,000, probably going to have a little more into it, we will work with the people to help them get that grant to revitalize that building, and we’ll hold the mortgage. We won’t pay it back. They will have to pay us back for the demo and all that.”
The city had already been awarded a $2,500 grant from Indiana Landmarks to conduct a feasibility study and rehabilitation plan.
