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