Demolition looms for downtown Auburn buildings

The former Marvel Food & Deli Building at West Main Street soon will fall to make way for a major downtown renewal project.

That would leave the street’s burned-out and long-shuttered Charlie Wong building and the vacant Liquidation Outlet! the remaining eyesores on the block just south of City Hall.

But if agreements can be worked out between the City and the Business Bank of Skagit County, which owns the Charlie Wong building, then all three buildings could fall at the same time.

The City, which recently bought the Marvel building, plans to tear it down to widen South Division Street for the Promenade project. The City has offered to set up bids for the Business Bank of Skagit County, which would allow the Charlie Wong structure to be knocked down at the same time as Marvel.

Brenda Heineman, human resources director for the City of Auburn, said the Marvel deed makes its owner responsible for reconstructing the common wall, connecting it with Charlie Wong should Marvel be torn down. As the owner, the City would offer to contribute funds to the demolition equal to the cost of that common wall.

City officials would like to see the Liquidation Outlet! building fall. The Business Bank of Skagit is talking with that building’s owner, the Bank of Washington, about that. Once those buildings are down, the City and the banks would work together to market the properties.

“We’re going to do everything we can so that the banks can get their best dollar, which they are not getting now,” said Mayor Pete Lewis.

Lewis said that insurance companies have condemned the buildings, and the banks will not be able to lease them again. Having the buildings cleared off means that the properties will be more valuable.

In accord with master design standards for the downtown, any future buildings on the lots would have to be two stories high.

“You cannot just go in there and build a one-story antique store. It has to be so many stories high, it has to have different brick along the frontage, windows of a certain size and more,” Lewis said.

The City has not yet awarded the demolition contract for the Marvel building, but one could land before the Council on Aug. 2. While the Business Bank of Skagit and Washington Bank would be free to hire their own contractors, they also could negotiate contracts with the city’s as-yet-to-be chosen contractor.

The Marvel building was constructed in 1900, the Charlie Wong building in 1904 and the Liquidation Outlet! building in 1948.

The Charlie Wong building was the victim of unsolved arson during the early morning hours of April 19, 2004, with the chief suspect fleeing to Hong Kong. The outer west wall of the Liquidation Outlet! building was leaning slightly into the parking lot to the west but has since been shored up.

The planned demolition and renovation would leave the Sun Break Cafe, located at 22 A St. SW, untouched.

Contact Auburn Reporter News reporter Robert Whale at rwhale@auburn-reporter.com or 253-833-0218, ext. 5052.

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