Christian Circuit Judge Andrew Self said during a court hearing Wednesday morning that the Phoenix Building demolition project is taking longer than outlined in a court order, but he declined to transfer responsibility for razing the structure from the property owners to the city of Hopkinsville.
“It’s just taking a long time, and it doesn’t seem from what’s been represented that it should take this long. So I don’t know what the delays are or if they can be expedited — but we need to move from this point,” Self told attorney Kenneth Humphries, who represents the family of building owner Bobo Cravens and his son, Alfred Cravens.
Humphries said the time required for asbestos testing and state approval prior to abatement is the reason demolition has not yet started.
“We can’t start anything until that asbestos is abated. We can’t abate the asbestos until the survey is done. That survey, on site, was done Friday morning,” Humphries said.
Samples taken from the Phoenix have confirmed there is asbestos in the building, according to Humphries. The next step, the survey, involved a contractor going into the building to measure areas that tested positive for asbestos to determine the scope of the abatement process. Now the survey has to be approved by the Kentucky Division of Air Quality, he said.
City Attorney Doug Willen countered, “It’s my understanding that the city’s contractors are ready to move in and begin the asbestos abatement immediately.” He indicated that the preferred contractor for the city, East Construction, would be able to expedite the asbestos abatement in a way that was similar to the demolition of another Cravens’ building, the Holland Opera House, earlier this year.
“We have been assured that they can do this in a timely manner, pursuant to Kentucky code and law and it will be done appropriately,” Willen said.
Self asked how the city contractor could get approval from the Division of Air Quality faster than the owner’s contractor. The judge said he would need an affidavit from the contractor to explain how its process would be faster.
“I don’t anticipate that I would change horses in the middle of the race … and allow the city to move forward with its contractor,” Self said. “But if this thing doesn’t start moving, that’s what we’re going to do. OK. It’s got to get done.”
Although the building has been condemned since January, Alfred Cravens asked the judge, “What is the hurry?”
“The hurry is that the building is in a very dilapidated condition …,” Self told Cravens. “… a number of professionals who are qualified in this area have indicated that it presents a danger, and the city has understandably and responsibly moved forward with the process.”
Roughly 10 minutes after the court hearing concluded, large shards of window glass fell from the second story of the Phoenix onto the South Main Street sidewalk. A salvage worker on the second floor was attempting to pull the glass out of the window frame from inside the building.
A man who frequently panhandles in that area was standing a few feet from the spot where the glass hit the sidewalk and shattered. The man told Hoptown Chronicle that the glass didn’t hit him. He said he wasn’t hurt.
During the court hearing both Willen and Self raised safety concerns about the building, especially this weekend when several thousand pedestrians will be downtown for the Summer Salute.
Willen said if the city had been able to award a contract for the demolition, a fence would have already been erected to prevent anyone from getting into or close to the building.
“It would have been sealed off, both the sidewalk and any access to that building,” Willen said.
Recently there has been yellow police tape and some small city barricades used to block access to the sidewalk around portions of the Phoenix Building. But those are often ignored and the police tape is repeatedly torn down, Mayor James R. Knight Jr. told Hoptown Chronicle.
“What if a little kid had been walking down there,” Knight said after hearing about the window glass hitting the sidewalk on Wednesday.
Knight said the city will be blocking off the sidewalk around the Phoenix again before Summer Salute, which runs Friday and Saturday.
“The Street Department is going to make sure that it stays up during Summer Salute,” Knight said.
The contractor hired by the owners will erect a construction fence around the building before the demolition begins, according to the contract, said Humphries.
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.
