Oct 15, 2014 3 min read

Washington officials are taking aim at several abandoned and dilapidated buildings in the heart of the city’s business district.

A public hearing Nov. 6 will help determine whether four abandoned buildings in the central business district around North Main and West Chestnut streets will be condemned and eventually razed.

It’s the third round of public hearings in as many months by city officials as they declare decaying buildings a public safety hazard and order them to be demolished.

“There’s been a lot of neglect from those property owners over the years,” Mayor Brenda Davis said. “The city’s at the point where the property owners must take responsibility for their properties, and if they don’t the city will have them razed and clean up the main business district.”

Among the five buildings on the new list include 138 N. Main St. owned by Washington Real Estate Services Inc., which prompted the brief closure of North Main Street and the sidewalk in June 2013 when a window dormer fell from an upper floor. Another building is the section of 8-22 W. Chestnut St. and 93-95 N. Main St. purchased by Kim Gobert of Moscow, Russia, for $3,451 in August 2011.

The other two properties in the business district are 83 N. Main St., owned by Charles Kurowski, and 26 W. Chestnut St., owned by Deborah and Barbara Hahn. The final property on the list, at 123 Woodlawn Ave., already is vacant.

Davis said the city is focusing on razing dilapidated buildings in the central business district after previously spending money to bulldoze abandoned homes in the city’s neighborhoods.

“There’s going to be some portions that will need to be closed, but that will just be temporary,” Davis said of expected detours during demolition. “It will be a small inconvenience when the demolition occurs, but the benefits will outweigh that once we’re finished.”

She said the city is using $150,000 in community block grant money budgeted from last year and another $100,000 planned this year to perform the more expensive commercial building demolitions in town.

“We’re going to keep demo-ing until the money runs out,” Davis said.

City Council began moving forward in September with its aggressive plan to demolish several dilapidated buildings, most of which are near the city’s Main Street, as they try to remove blight and spur development. Officials already have voted to raze buildings on six properties since Sept. 11.

A vote on the five buildings on the current list could happen after the public hearing next month.