Another decrepit building bites the dust
A crew works Monday to demolish the blighted building at 96 N. Main St. in Washington once owned by former Washington County district attorney John Pettit.
A crew works Monday to demolish the blighted building at 96 N. Main St. in Washington once owned by former Washington County district attorney John C. Pettit.
At the intersection of North Main and East Chestnut streets, a building once owned by the late Washington County district attorney John C. Pettit will soon be nothing but a memory.
The long-vacant structure at 96 N. Main St. was heavily damaged, said Washington code enforcement officer Rob McIntyre Monday as crews worked to raze the building.
“The pipes had frozen. The last time I was in there, there was a lot of water damage. (There was) mold and moss growing,” McIntyre said. “We’re demolishing it to make it safe.”
Barring any problems, the building, which was left to the city by Pettit’s estate and once housed Hanover shoe store and Sol Mintz clothing store, should be gone within two weeks, said Mayor Brenda Davis.
The next step is to work with Citywide Development Corp. to sell the resulting lot, which is located near the new Washington Intermodal Transit Facility.
”The main goal is to get the property back on tax rolls again,” Davis said. “That’s a part of the revitalization process.”
In 2012, then-Gov. Tom Corbett signed the Land Bank Act, allowing Washington and other municipalities with a population of more than 10,000 to take control of blighted properties and cancel tax liens and bank foreclosures. The properties could then be sold to owners willing to improve rundown neighborhoods.
In Washington’s case, the CDC was assigned responsibility for the city’s land bank.
“Continuing with the revival efforts (and) tearing down dilapidated buildings will be up to the new administration,” said Davis, whose term is up in December.
At a cost of almost $90,000, demolition of the Pettit building was funded by the city’s allocated Community Development Block Grant.