After some citizens pushed for its preservation, Hopkinsville City Council members approved the emergency demolition of the Blue Streak Printers Building at Tuesday’s meeting.
The building has sat along East 9th Street since1912, and was formerly known as The Rex, one of the city’s first movie theaters, but it has since fallen into disrepair. At last week’s meeting, council members received a report concerning the building’s integrity.
Kelly Gardner from Gardner Engineering and Consulting PLLC did a review of the building and says it should remain unoccupied until it is restored. Following his initial report, he returned to the building for a more in-depth report, which revealed further irreparable damages.
The building’s roof is reinforced with wood trusses, and Gardner says four of the five trusses have moderate to severe damages, including failed joint connections and rotted bearing ends.
Along with the poor condition of the trusses, Gardner says the building has suffered water damages and the front wall facing East 9th Street is at risk of collapsing as a result of the additional load of the canopy.
Gardner says the building is not beyond repair, but it depends on how much money and time a buyer is willing to invest to restore it. He also shared that he has run into this issue during other building inspections, where, from the outside, a building looks structurally salvageable, but all of the issues end up being hidden.
The city currently owns the building and had plans to sell it to a buyer willing to restore it, similar to what happened with the L&N Depot. However, since the building poses an imminent danger, City Attorney Doug Willen says if the building were to fall and cause injuries, then the city would be liable.
Willen also says it would be irresponsible for the city to transfer the building to a buyer in its current condition.
Hopkinsville Fire Chief Steve Futrell says he knows demolition is not the popular decision, but community safety is his priority. Futrell says firefighters know they may have to risk their lives to protect people they do not know and property they do not own, but it is his job to mitigate those risks before they result in an emergency.
To conclude the meeting, the 10 council members in attendance approved the building’s emergency demolition. It cost the city $500,000 to purchase the building, and it will cost over $58,000 to demolish it.