Sep 15, 2018 3 min read

Donora officials received a judge’s OK Friday to tear down a vacant building described in court papers as posing “an extreme risk to health and safety” of people in the Mon Valley borough.

A petition seeking approval of the emergency demolition said 547 McKean Ave.’s already-deteriorating foundation wall partly collapsed on Monday and now threatens the structural integrity of surrounding buildings.

Even before then, the decrepit condition of the storefront – which once housed a business called Everything But the Kitchen Sink – had put it on borough officials’ radar for at least several months.

Solicitor Steven Toprani wrote in the petition that the Donora code enforcement officer issued a notice of violation on June 18 that pointed to “among other things, structural deficiency with the foundation and noting an exterior wall collapse.” The next day, the officer condemned the building as unsafe.

Gannett Fleming, the firm that does engineering work for the borough, inspected the building Wednesday and found the building to be “at imminent risk of collapse,” Toprani wrote.

Washington County President Judge Katherine B. Emery granted the borough’s petition in an order that also authorized officials to lien the property for the cost of the project.

Councilman Dennis Gutierrez said the borough street department will “more than likely” handle the work of razing the building in-house.

“As soon as the (state Department of Environmental Protection) gives us their approval, we plan to get started,” Gutierrez said. “Since it’s a potential safety issue, we want to be proactive on it.”

Toprani named Valentine Simo – whose mailing address is listed as being in Dallas – as the owner of the McKean building. Simo’s acquisition of the property Aug. 8 made him the third proprietor in less than a month, according to county tax records. On July 23, Xiao Ting Huang bought the property from Cais Property Management, which had owned the building for the preceding three years.

Accompanying the petition in Toprani’s court filing was a letter from the borough dated Aug. 1 to Cais and Huang, who are both listed as having addresses in Queens, N.Y. The letter warned them it was “unlawful” to “transfer or otherwise dispose of” the property without resolving the notice of violation.

Alternatively, the letter added, the previous owner could provide a copy of the notice to their successor and provide the borough with a notarized statement from the new owner showing they understand their obligation to bring the property into compliance.

An internet search of Cais’, Huang’s and Simo’s names returned no apparent matches for publicly listed phone numbers.

Gutierrez said Toprani had been in contact with the owner about the situation. Toprani didn’t return a message Friday.

His petition said the building shares a common wall with the neighboring building that houses Colgan Insurance Agency.

“Because of the high risk of harm, representatives of Colgan are considering closing its office as a precaution,” the petition reads.

Gene Svrcek, president of Colgan, didn’t return a message. An employee who answered the phone at the agency said Svrcek was out of state.