The owners of the Phoenix Building will hire a contractor to raze the historic downtown Hopkinsville building that city officials condemned in January, according to a ruling by Christian Circuit Judge Andrew Self.
The work must begin by Monday, Aug. 7, the judge said during a hearing Wednesday morning with Hopkinsville city attorney Doug Willen and attorney Ken Humphries, who represents the family of property owner Bobo Cravens. Also present was Alfred Cravens, who has power of attorney to handle business for his father.
According to a previous order entered on July 26, the Phoenix demolition work “shall be completed within 30 days.”
Demolition expenses
At issue in the hearing Wednesday was whether the Cravens family or the city would hire a demolition contractor. Last week the city opened bids from four contractors whose proposals ranged from $263,600 to $387,000.
Those bids were much higher than one from Innovative Demolition Services of Lexington, which said it could do the work for the owners for $82,670. It is lower because the company has not yet determined what it will charge for asbestos abatement.
The contractors that submitted bids to the city included the asbestos work in their proposals, with the cost for removal ranging anywhere from $10,000 to $85,000.
Depending on the fee that Innovative Demolition Services (or a subcontractor for Innovative) charges for the asbestos work, the Cravens family stands to save money on the demolition job if the contract they secure is less than the lowest bid the city received. Had the city awarded the contract to one of their bidders, the city would then attempt to recoup that expense from the Cravens family.
‘Severe structural issues’
A structural engineer for Gardner Engineering and Consulting in Owensboro inspected the building for the city on Jan. 6. There were “severe structural issues throughout the second floor framing system,” according to the engineer’s report to the city on Jan. 10.
“Without remediation, these structural issues will only continue to worsen until the point of partial or total collapse occurs internally. These conditions have not yet reached the point of imminent danger, but without address they will reach that level,” the report stated.
The Hopkinsville Fire Department then posted “condemned” signs on the building, and the city followed the engineer’s recommendation that owner be given 90 days to present plans to either repair the building or have it demolished. That deadline passed in the second week of April without a resolution.
Teardown timeline
In court Wednesday, Humphries said the process of doing an asbestos survey to determine the location and amount of asbestos in the building and then sending samples off for testing could take 20 days.
“Our concern is that they continue to delay,” said Willen. “We’re talking about another 20 days. Mr. Cravens, in all due respect, has had since the first of January … and it’s still sitting here.”
In addition to the condemnation order in January, the Phoenix Building owners were recently cited by the Code Enforcement Board for basic property maintenance violations, said Willen.
“The owner was given 30 days to abate the nuisance. That timeline has passed. So there has been a history here of delay and not complying with the law,” said Willen. He said the city is ready to “move immediately” with one of its contractors.
Humphries spoke about the state regulations for asbestos abatement and the desire of the Cravens family to salvage some materials of historical and monetary value — and he questioned the city’s “urgency” in having the building demolished.
This set off an exchange between Willen and Humphries.
“There are basic property maintenance code violations that have not been addressed,” said Wilen.
“They have been addressed,” said Humphries.
“They have not been addressed,” said Willen.
“Which ones?” asked Humphries.
“They were supposed to be abated within 30 days. There are still open windows in there getting ready to fall out on pedestrians. That’s one,” said Willen.
“Well, what others?” countered Humphries.
Self stopped the exchanged by saying, “I don’t think there’s any question there are some code violations. You can drive by there and reasonably conclude that there are code violations.”
Self added that Humphries and experts he cited on behalf of his clients acknowledged issues with the building.
The judge stressed that he wanted the work to get started immediately and that some of the material salvage could happen simultaneous to other work on the building, including a survey of asbestos.
Quoting legendary college basketball coach John Wooden, Self said, “Be quick, but don’t hurry.”
“We’re going to begin the clock on Aug. 7,” said Self. “Now, if they are halfway through, almost all the way through within 30 days, it is what it is. But we are going to begin the process and we are going to allow Mr. Cravens to get out what he needs to get out. But it’s not an unlimited time frame.”
Repurposing history
Self noted there is interest in saving some brick to be used in repairs at the old central fire station on Ninth Street downtown. Now serving as the Woody Winfree Fire and Transportation Museum and managed by the Museums of Historic Hopkinsville-Christian County, the building had a portion of one wall blown out in the March 31 storm.
Several weeks ago a contractor began to rebuild that wall with brick that does not match the rest of the building. The work was halted before it was completed. The brick from the Phoenix looks almost identical to the brick at the old fire station.
Alissa Keller, museum executive director, and Kiley Killebrew, museum board chair, were present for the court hearing. They have signed an affidavit stating the museum is interested in getting some of the Phoenix bricks. Self said he wants that to happen.
In a related comment, Self spoke about losing the Phoenix.
“I don’t want to lose sight of the historical significance of what’s taking place,” he said. “Ninth and Main is by all accounts the center and heart of downtown Hopkinsville. This is not an insignificant thing that is taking place in the life of our community. We want to make sure we do it right. But everyone is in agreement that building is beyond being salvaged. Everyone is in agreement that building needs to come down.”
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
