Demolition Project at 108 W. Steele Street

It is a bittersweet moment for the North Main Neighborhood this week.  The long-sought demolition of the burned and abandoned buildings at the corner of N. Main and W. Steele Streets has begun.

The Miller-Cress House was originally built around 1900 and was originally located on Main Street when the street cars ran down Main from Spencer to the Fulton Heights neighborhood.  In the early 1930s, the owners moved the house back on the property to face W. Steele Street and built a service station for the burgeoning automobile ownership.

The home was originally a single story bungalow and refurbished after the move to a more Victorian style, with an added second story and porch. The garage, built in 1930, was a cute Art-

Deco style with glass embellishment at its roof line, but was labeled an 'intrusion' on the National Registry of Historic Places in the inventory of the North Main district.

A fire in 1998 destroyed much of the office section of the service station.  Before this, the recent owners had a car stereo business here, to the chagrin of the neighborhood.  Neighbors fought long and hard against the volume continually emitted from the building and finally

won with the help of City Code Enforcement and Police.  Most recently, the owners used the bay section for storage, but provided no repairs or maintenance to the structure... and it showed!

The home suffered a massive fire in August 2013.  The owners had moved and the house was left empty.  Here is when the real problems began to occur.

The home and garage buildings have been abandoned since that 2013 fire.  Kids began 'playing' there, breaking every remaining pane of glass with rocks ~ even breaking every window in the two vehicles the owners had left parked there.  Graffiti began to appear on the house.  A person was arrested for attempting to steal items from the burnt wreckage.  Neighbors began a vigilant watch on the property and called both Code Enforcement and the Salisbury City Police Department on nearly a daily basis.

In July, Code Enforcement brought the proposal to demolish the damaged structures before Salisbury's Historic Preservation Commission, a necessary step when property such as this lies in the local historic district!  The HPC held a public forum regarding the demolition on July 10, 2014.  Despite receiving feedback from attending neighbors in favor of the demolition, the HPC voted to stay the demolition* for 65 days, in hopes a buyer would come and rescue the historic home and garage (even though the property was not for sale!).

NOMA representatives spoke at City Council meeting in November, asking for greater attention to the appearance of the North Main central corridor, siting that the Historic Salisbury Foundation is working to save two abandoned structures in the north sector of the neighborhood, but that nothing else is being done.  We asked for the demolition of 108 W. Steele Street to be finalized, expressing that it was a blight to the neighborhood and a safety and crime concern.

Over the past weeks, we watched the asbestos tests performed, utilities such as as gas and electricity disconnected, and finally on January 3rd, after many, many more phone calls to our Code Enforcement officials, the demolition began in earnest.

The gas station is now gone.  The home is scheduled to come down the weekend of the 10th.  We are hoping the contractors are planning a serious grading project as the property has a large elevation change and slopes to a 'bowl' in the back.  We are informed that the retaining wall where the gas station stood will remain in place.

So yes, a bittersweet moment in NOMA history:

Bitter, because we hate to lose any of our beautiful historic homes.  We hate to create 'holes' in our neighborhood.

Sweet, because these buildings had become not only an eyesore, but a safety hazard and magnet for nuisance criminal activity.  We additionally feared that having structure like this standing in our neighborhood for a year and a half forces our property values to drop, at least in the eye of the beholder.

Here's to better days for NOMA in 2015!










The North Main Neighborhood
northmainneighborhood@gmail.com

Code Enforcement and Property Demolition at 108 W. Steele Street

At our November NOMA meeting, we discussed the blight to the neighborhood represented by the property at 108 W. Steele Street that was damaged in a fire in August 2013 yet left standing until now. We have had several differing reports as to the progress of its demolition.

Neighbors attended a Historic Preservation Commission public forum on July 10, 2014 to be able to provide input on a request to the Commission from Code Enforcement to demolish the (3) buildings on the 108 W. Steele Street parcel.  After much discussion and much to our dismay, the HPC stayed the demolition for 65 days.

We've been calling Code Enforcement and getting conflicting information about the proposed demolition.  We've been told several times that a Request for Bids had been posted for (12) city properties, and that 108 W. Steele was on this list.  Yet when we asked again when that might be, we were told that 108 W. Steele had to be inspected in order to properly identify components of the demolition.  When we asked again, we were told that ONLY the house structure was to come down.  Knowing the former gas station on the property is an enormous safety issue, with no flooring or roofing in place, we were surprised and disappointed.

At Council Meeting on Tuesday, Nov 18th, a NOMA representative besought City Council to address our abandoned house issues along the Main Street corridor, and requested that they additionally work to remove street weeds along the main drag.  We expressed our gratitude that Historic Salisbury Foundation is focusing stabilization efforts on some of our 'loose gems', but that certainly this private foundation cannot be expected to correct the entire situation.  Our North Main Street corridor is the last remaining residential corridor into the City, and is the city's chance to make a first impression to visitors to the NC Transportation Museum to the north, and the coming Rowan Central School Office at our south boundary. 

Council members assured us that the property at 108 W. Steele Street was to be demolished in 3-weeks, yet again said that only the house structure was to come down. To follow through, NOMA resident Sue McHugh contacted Chris Branham/City of Salisbury Code Enforcement on this demolition, and was told the house would be gone in three weeks, and further clarified the status: Code Enforcement has (9) houses on the demolition list. An asbestos study had to be done for each. Luckily our 108 W Steele does not have an asbestos issue. The demolition projects have gone out for bid and bids were due December 1st. We learned that, while it may additional time after bid closings to finalize demolition plans, 108 W Steele Street is first on the list to come down. The demolition will include the former gas station that faces N. Main Street, the house that faces W. Steele Street, but will NOT include the small free-standing residential garage.Utilities have been removed from the site, and demolition should begin soon.  Central Piedmont Builders is the contractor for the job, the same contractor doing the restoration and up fit to the Bernhardt Hardware Building in the 100 block of North Main Street.  To date, demolition on 108 W. Steele Street has not begun.

While we regret losing properties to Demolition by Neglect such as this abandoned property on W. Steele Street, we felt this property was a safety and criminal hazard to the neighborhood.  The investment required to (#1) purchase the property, and (#2) reconstruct and stabilize the property, unfortunately far outweighed the total property worth.  

Neighbors were diligent in calling both the Salisbury Police Department and Salisbury Code Enforcement with concerns about the property.  We indeed have learned through this process that the squeaky wheel does, in fact, get the grease!







NOMA ~ The North Main Neighborhood
northmainneighborhood@gmail.com