Demolition began Tuesday morning at the vacant Sixth Street building that previously housed a pawnshop for many years.
The Local Development Corp., a city agency involved in downtown revitalization, bought the building late last year for $23,795 from Graham and Heather Dawson. They had purchased the building two years earlier in hopes of renovating the structure for a restaurant. However, the estimates for renovation did not make that project feasible.
In mid-March, the LDC board discussed preliminary plans to install a pocket park with landscaping on the site following demolition. However, during a Community Vision Plan meeting of several downtown business owners Friday, Downtown Renaissance Director Holly Boggess said those plans could be affected by concerns over loitering.
Regardless of the outcome, when the building is demolished, the LDC will begin one of the final pieces of an ambitious streetscape overhaul of Sixth Street between Main and Virginia that began several years ago. All of the other buildings on the block are occupied with the exception of the Young Hardware building, which is being renovated to house the Dawsons’ restaurant.
A crew began preparing the pawnshop lot for demolition by installing a fence around the building over the weekend. A wood barrier was erected on one side to prevent a collapse into the nearest structure, the former Sabel’s Western Wear building that houses Bella Marie Boutique.
During demolition, a portion of Sixth Street is blocked at South Virginia. Pedestrians can still access all of the block’s businesses from Main Street.
Boggess said the demolition work is expected to last a few days.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. She spent 30 years as a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition.
