The building has portions dating to the 1840s, including an area that once housed a county courthouse.
Daniel Geers of Jezerinac Geers & Associates of Dublin was appointed July 5 conduct the analysis. Parties to the litigation will pay the cost for the expert, whose information lists a fee of $400 per hour. Wall said a representative of each party could accompany Geers.
The building’s owner and the county’s Chief Building Official filed motions late Tuesday asking Wall to delay the date of the inspection to allow time for the appeals court to decide legal issues involving the order for inspection and an order for building repairs.
Wall denied those motions Thursday, clearing the way for Geers’ inspection on Friday.
The building was damaged in a January 2020 tornado that hit downtown. The sidewalk and parking spaces in front of the building have been blocked for the three-plus years since.
Then this June, the city fully closed West Main Street in front of the building after a finding by the county chief building official and city fire chief that the building was a threat and a decision by Wall to not order immediate removal. That block of the street, in the heart of downtown, has been closed for nearly two months.
Litigation involving the condition of the structure owned by 116 West Main, Randy Kimmel, has been filed in the county Common Pleas Court as well as Ohio’s 2nd District Court of Appeals.
The litigation has included rulings on a city of Troy demolition order, adjudication orders issued and then changed by the county chief building official, a late March effort to demolish the structure that was stopped by court order and challenges to Wall’s order to appoint the structural expert and for the owner to stabilize the north parapet wall facing Main Street.
Most recently, Troy Community Works, a nonprofit economic development group in Troy, proposed another solution to saving the building. The proposal would involve coordination of several parties. Among its aspects were for the building owner to donate the building and for 116 West Main along with others to contribute $50,000 each toward building stabilization. The others suggested were the city of Troy, Troy Historic Preservation Alliance and adjoining building owners Evil Empire and Cheryl Cheadle, $25,000 each.
The city also was asked to dismiss all criminal maintenance complaints it had filed against 116 West Main and for Rob England, chief building official, and Matthew Simmons, Troy fire chief, to rescind their orders for demolition saying the building was a threat.
116 West Main and its lawyers have been asked if they would consider a donation but have not responded.
The city at this point does not have interest in the proposal “under the current atmosphere, namely that the chief building official has certified that the building cannot be repaired but must be demolished under his adjudication orders,” said Patrick Titterington, city of Troy service and safety director.
He has talked with individual members of city council and knows there is “great concern with spending taxpayer funds” on this proposal, Titterington said. He also cited the lack of a solid, fully financed redevelopment plan. City council earlier this summer rejected a proposal by 116 West Main to donate the building to the city.
The Troy Historic Preservation Alliance, a local nonprofit working to preserve Troy’s historic buildings, including the Tavern property, supports the TCW proposal.
“We applaud Troy Community Works for bringing forward this common-sense proposal. It’s the quickest and best way to resolve this 3 1/2-year-long ordeal and get West Main Street reopened,” the THPA said in a written statement.
Christy Shell of Troy Community Works said the organization is completing due diligence before further action on the proposal. “We feel like there is a solution there, if everyone would have a change of mind of what could happen … We may be too far along,” she said.
Troy Community Works earlier worked to preserve the former David’s Shoes Building on the Public Square and a former Salvation Army building a couple of blocks away along East Main Street.
Contact this contributing writer at nancykburr@aol.com.
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