The owners of the blue-faced building at 108 W. Madison St. in Ottawa want to tear it down. Mike Godfrey told the city’s Historic Preservation Commission yesterday, the building’s too run down to repair. The going rents won’t cover the costs. And someone’s ready to buy the lot when the building’s gone.
Mike Godfrey
Godfrey says the building’s troubles go back to the Green Mill Café fire two addresses away in December 2008 when water got in. Tearing down the Little City Building next door in the summer of 2015 exposed it to hard knocks.
The building owner needs to go before the Historic Preservation Commission because it’s in a commercial historic district. The commission will advise the City Council on going ahead with a demolition permit or not.
Former mayor and current commission member Bob Eschbach feels the building should come down because it’s so badly run down. He was mayor when the Little City Building came down. That asbestos-laden building was in such poor condition, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency representative just beginning a preliminary inspection immediately put the city on the fast track for a grant to pay for the work.
While Godfrey says a buyer has made an offer for the property on the condition that the building is demolished first, architect George Cary who also serves on the commission, has doubts.
The commission wants to talk about it again next month before recommending whether to recommend letting the Thomas Godfrey Sub-trust go ahead.
The building at 108 W. Madison St. in Ottawa
The back of the building at 108 W. Madison St. Ottawa
This view inside the building at 108 W. Madison St. in Ottawa shows the first floor fallen into the basement. Photo provided by Ottawa City Hall.