City closes part of Heber Street

The City of Beckley has blocked a section of S. Heber Street because of municipal officials' concerns that a building owned by the city could collapse, Beckley Mayor Rob Rappold confirmed Wednesday.

The building is at 227 Prince Street, and Rappold had asked Beckley Common Council on March 22 for permission to pay $62,000 to Empire Salvage to destroy it and to use the space to build a parking lot.

Ward IV Councilman Kevin Price reported in March that the city had purchased the building around three years ago with plans of demolishing it. The city had paid $111,000 for the structure.

Instead, Council voted to "table" the planned demolition of the two-story facility, which is a former medical lab, and to give the Historic Landmark Commission an opportunity to review any planned destruction of the historic building, in an effort to preserve the city's historic district.

On Tuesday, Price, who is a retired firefighter, said the building has obviously deteriorated since the spring, and Rappold said on Wednesday that he is seeking advice from city attorney Bill File about using any available legal authority to condemn the structure, if council does not vote to demolish it.

Prince notified Rappold of the risk, according to the mayor.

"This week, we received an alarming notice from one of our council persons," said Rappold. "He had noticed a considerable increase in the bulge on that building."

The mayor added that Price had "toured a number of buildings from a fire safety standpoint."

"It was my opinion, since we had been notified by a qualified person, that it was incumbent upon us not to roll the dice and to err on the side of caution and to close that narrow end of Heber Street," said Rappold.

He reported that brick has continued to erode along the back of the building.

"If that were to strike a pedestrian or an automobile, the fact that we have been alerted to the danger would, in my mind, create a negligence on our part from a liability standpoint," Rappold said.

The mayor was still in favor of demolishing the building on Wednesday.

"We are still awaiting a structural engineering report from our engineer of record on the status of that building," he added. "Quite frankly, if the city retains ownership fo that building and council, again, defers demolition, if it's a matter of condemnation and public safety, then I'm looking into what authority I have to declare an eminent emergency.

"So it's something I need to discuss with counsel (city attorney Bill File), at this point," the mayor said on Wednesday.

Rappold and Board of Public Works Director Jerry Stump reported to council in March that the building presented a danger to public safety and that it was beyond repair.

Rappold said city engineers had examined the building after a roof collapsed on the Walton Building on Main Street in June 2020 which caused significant damage to nearby buildings. The New Law Office building next door to the collapsed roof had to be demolished.

The city closed Main Street for public safety for about five months until the buildings were fully demolished. The closure led to one business owner, Dinesh Lamichhane, being forced to shut down business operations at Roma Pizza Grill & Curry and moving his business to Jimmie's Place on S. Kanawha Street.

After the collapse, city officials conducted an inventory of downtown buildings. Rappold said the damage to Prince Street had been noted by those who surveyed the old buildings.

Both Price and At-Large Councilwoman Sherrie Hunter had been in favor of demolishing the building, while council members Tom Sopher (Ward I), Bob Canter (Ward II), Robert Dunlap (Ward III), Janine Bullock (Ward V) and At-Large Councilman Cody Reedy voted to table the demolition decision and asked to see the building before making a decision.

"Council toured it (in the spring)," Rappold said Wednesday. "As far as I know, no member of council is a structural engineer.

"They did their civic duty and went in and inspected it."

The five council members signed forms that released the city's insurer from any responsibility in case of injury. They went into the building and reported, after the walk-through, that they preferred to wait to make a decision on the building.

Reedy had wanted to find a buyer, while Dunlap and Sopher had both wanted the Historic Landmarks Commission to offer input.

Two potential investors, according to the mayor, had looked at the property prior to March 22 and backed out after reporting that renovations to make the building usable would require $1.2 million to $1.5 million.

Beckley Courthouse Square, including the Prince Street building, is on the National Register of Historic Places. The designation allows the city to be eligible for tax credits and federal loans that aim to preserve historic buildings.

By law, the city Historic Landmarks Commission is responsible for overseeing the development of the historic district. The commission is the architectural and judiciary body that uses a set of guidelines to protect the district from “inappropriate alterations” and demolitions. 

Although the eight-block square has been on the National Register since 1994, the city’s National Historic District was placed on the “Endangered Properties List” by the Preservation Alliance of West Virginia, a nonprofit that promotes historic preservation in the state.

By 2018, Beckley had lost 22 of its 100 historic buildings to demolitions and renovations that didn’t meet historically appropriate standards, PAWS Southern District Representative David Sibray reported.

Dunlap suggested Wednesday that since council members examined the building, his concern that the city had not taken reasonable efforts to save the property — a requirement for historic districts — has been addressed.

"One of my original concerns was that we will need to defend the assertion the city didn't take reasonable efforts to save this property and (that) we should defend our historic designation from being de-listed," he said. "In the prior council meeting, when the mayor discussed structural experts who assessed the Prince Street building and deemed its demolition necessary, many of us remained skeptical."

Since council tabled the initial plan to demolish, Dunlap said at least two "independent business persons" had requested and been granted access to the building as potential buyers of the property and that both decided it would be "cost prohibitive" to remodel the building.

"The fact that the city made these additional efforts to divest the property through an arms-length transaction inspires more confidence," he said.

Dunlap said Wednesday that he is not likely to oppose demolition of the building, now that additional steps have been taken to find a buyer and to prove to the Historic Landmark Commission that reasonable care had been taken to preserve the building.

"No one wants to see our uptown structures fail," said Dunlap. "However, it is incumbent upon every person who owns an uptown structure to acknowledge the responsibility that comes with that ownership and do their very best to safeguard these properties for the protection of everyone.

"At this point, that feels like what the city is doing."

Rappold said Wednesday that a Code Enforcement Officer had recently notified him that the Prince Street building has worsened and that there should be no more inspections of the building.

"We've just got out of a meeting with (Code Enforcement) where we discussed it," he said. "Code Chief said he would not recommend anybody going in that building at this point to examine it."