Downtown Lanark Building Demolished

By TOM KOCAL | Prairie Advocate News

Slideshow is below

LANARK – For jogger Dave Shaulis and company, their Friday morning, May 4 run started out like any other. But on their way back into town, they noticed something quite different - the back of the old Bank Building had collapsed.

On the corner of E. Locust and Broad Sts. in downtown Lanark, the building was recently declared impassable and beyond repair by engineers Willett Hoffman & Associates for the City of Lanark. The building was the home of Dr. BG Lambos, an antique shop, and plumbing & heating facility. The City was actively seeking the owner for input.

The building to the north, formerly Hoak’s Fountain Shoppe, was also surveyed, and is also in critical condition, but not as bad as the corner building. City officials were concerned that if the bank building was demolished, that it may take down the Hoak Building as well.

By 7:30 am, Law Excavating, who had their equipment in Lanark working on the storm water holding pond on Argyle and Pearl Sts., began the demolition after consulting with City officials and Willett Hoffman’s Matt Wagner. A little over an hour later, it was down, with no apparent damage to the Hoak Building. Fortunately, the two buildings did not share a common wall, and there were no injuries as a result of the initial collapse and the demolition that followed.

The timing of this demolition will hopefully generate community interest in a Tuesday, May 8 meeting to discuss the future of downtown Lanark. “What can we do to preserve our beautiful downtown business district?” is the question to be discussed at 5:00 pm at the Heritage Center.

Terry D. Feinberg, Extension Educator, Economic and Small Business Development for Carroll/Lee/Whiteside will speak on her experiences with: downtown revitalization; dealing with absentee building owners; and the roles of individuals, organizations and local government. She will discuss options, their possible outcomes, and their possible legal and ethical ramifications.

The meeting is open to the public, and will have City officials and Chamber of Commerce members in attendance.

The video will be posted soon. Your kids will love it!

(In the slideshow below) After working his way from the back to the front, Bob Law of Law Excavating pushes the bucket of his back hoe through the front of the building (lower left); as he pulls back, the walls begin to crack and fall; a dust cloud and a shower of debris fly out of the site, but only a few bricks and small pieces flew out into the barricaded street; the City crew and Law cleared the street and sidewalk, piling up the debris and filling in the basement of the building. (PA photos/Tom Kocal)