The City’s demolition contractor for the Marvel and Crites-Huff buildings got its notice to start on the job Monday.
Such a notice means the contractor can start bringing its equipment on site and preparing the buildings. It doesn’t mean demolition is imminent, but it should take place within weeks.
City Council members earlier this month awarded the demolition contract for buildings to PCI Democon at a total contract cost of $166,352.
The Marvel Building is located on the southwest corner of West Main and South Division Street, and the Crites Huff building is one block south of it on the southwest corner of 1st Street Southwest and South Division. Those buildings will fall to allow South Division to be widened for the Promenade Project.
But the City also authorized an agreement between the City and the Business Bank of Skagit County that allows the bank to tear down its holding, the Charlie Wong building, at the same time. The bank has chosen to use the City’s contractor.
The mechanism that allows that to happen is a 1924 warranty deed between the owner of Marvel (now the City) and the owner of Charlie Wong. It says that if the owner of Marvel tears its building down, the owner will be responsible for rebuilding the common wall with the Charlie Wong building. In lieu of rebuilding that wall, the City has agreed to contribute $30,000 to the Business Bank for demolition.
Councilwoman Nancy Backus has said that to rebuild the common wall at today’s building standards would be a lot more pricey than $30,000.
The City of Auburn earlier this year paid $461,000 for the Marvel Building. The demolition money comes from a grant dedicated to downtown projects and can’t be spent on anything else.
City officials would like to see the Liquidation Outlet! building west of Charlie Wong fall at the same time, but its fate is still unknown. The Business Bank of Skagit is talking with that building’s owner, the Bank of Washington.
“We don’t really know what the holdup is,” said Mayor Pete Lewis. “Communication is very limited with them.”
Once those buildings are down, the City and the banks would work together to market the properties.
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 demolition and renovation would leave the Sun Break Cafe, located at 22 A St. SW, untouched.
