After Hopkinsville City Council approved a measure for the emergency demolition of the historic Blue Streak Printers Building Tuesday night in a special-called meeting, it’s already coming down.
Demolition was actively underway Thursday morning, with that section of East Ninth Street closed to both vehicle and pedestrian traffic. Crews were making quick work of the demolition, which was expected to take about half of a day.
Tuesday’s vote to mark it for emergency demolition came after a report from Gardner Engineering and Consulting revealed extent of the damage. That report showed severe damage to wooden trusses, rot and water damage, with the inspector saying it was at risk of collapse.
The City of Hopkinsville owns that building and adjoining lot, which once housed the Phoenix Building, which was also demolished due to poor condition. The building was purchased for $500,000, and it’s costing roughly $58,000 to tear it down. The mayor and other city officials have said they had hoped to sell the building to a buyer willing to restore, but those plans changed with the structural report.
Other councilmembers questioned that, with Ward 6 Councilmember Travis Martin filing an open records request to see when discussions began about possible demolition of the building. The findings of that request show an email from September 4 between City Administrator Troy Body and Museums of Historic Hopkinsville about possibly retrieving items from within the building, with a question about how fast a demolition would happen.
Body didn’t know the answer to that, with City Public Works Director Mike Perry responding the next day, “to my knowledge a date has not been set”.
An email from City Public Information Officer Amanda Brunt was of her asking if demolition was public knowledge, following an inquiry from local media in mid-September. The ORR also shows that the Mayor’s Office received several emails in support of restoring the building, instead of demolishing it, including emails from change.org about a petition to save the building.
The open records document doesn’t contain any direct message to or from Mayor J.R. Knight or Body ordering demolition prior to the approval at Tuesday’s City Council meeting. It does show, however, that at least the possibility of a demolition was discussed as early as September.