New Haven Independent

Another Building Condemned

by Staff | January 4, 2008 4:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

DSC00752%20thumb.jpg A metal beam falls, and a family’s dreams of a post-fire renovation along with it.

The Hahn family had hoped it could rebuild their building at 848 Chapel St., where they ran Concord 9 jewelry store until a Dec. 12 three-alarm blaze devastated the downtown block bounded by Church, Chapel, Orange and Center streets.

Friday afternoon the family learned that the city has condemned the building and plans to demolish it next week.

An accident Thursday night sealed the building’s fate.

Picture%20811.jpg The Hahns’ store is next to the old Kresge building, which sustained severe damage in the blaze. The city condemned that building and this week started tearing it down and trucking the debris to Ohio and Pennsylvania.

jessica%20mayorga.jpg According to mayoral spokeswoman Jessica Mayorga (pictured), the accident occurred Thursday night when no one was at the demolition site. A large metal beam fell from an upper floor of the building being demolished.

That building shares a wall with the Hahns’ at 848 Chapel. The reverberations from the crash damaged the Hahns’ building as well and rendered it structurally unsound, the city concluded Friday.

“They were excited about renovating. We were working with them to find them temporary space [for the jewelry store] — which now looks like it will have to be permanent space,” Mayorga said.

Officials planned to meet with the Hahns to deliver the news at 3 p.m. Friday, then hold a press conference at the site at 4 p.m.

However the press conference was delayed as the meeting with the family ran over. As of Independent press time (shortly before sundown Friday), it was not known what the family’s reaction was to the city’s decision.

The city hired Laydon Construction to oversee the demolition on the block. Laydon is “looking into what caused” the bar to fall, Mayorga said. “That will make a difference in terms of who pays” for demolishing the Hahns’ buildling.

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Comments

Posted by: charlie | January 4, 2008 6:40 PM

The historic facade should be saved. The value of the facade should have been a factor in the City's decision to hire this particular contractor. They city knew that valuable resources were at stake and there is no excuse for the loss of this building, weeks after the fire occurred. Does the contractor have a good track record when it comes to this?

Given the value of the historic building's facade to future generations, I think that an in-depth investigation by the Secretary of State's Office and/or the New Haven Independent is warranted. FOI everyone's emails. Please figure out what went wrong here so that it does not happen again.

Posted by: cedarhillresident | January 4, 2008 7:14 PM

I hope someone saves those signs!!!

Sorry to see the building go. PLEASE be careful taking that one down!!!! Again I hope that this can be turn into a good thing for this part of down town. Now Jessica Mayorga or any that know...I just want to clarify... Of what part of this demo does the city have to pay for if any?? Is insurance for the stores paying for this?? are we paying for some, I saw in another story that liens will be placed to cover the costs??

Posted by: Esbe | January 5, 2008 9:51 PM

Darn, it hurts to lose old buildings.

Cedarhill -- In the case of the Kresge buildings involved in the original fire, the owner clearly has to pay for demolition. I don't feel sorry for him at all, as he will collect the insurance money for the buildings and then be left with land that is worth more without buildings on it. Quite a luck guy; this all works out quite well for him.

From the story above, it seems that for this new demolition someone will have to decide who is at fault, if anyone. I assume the demolition company has insurance to cover its own liability, if it made a mistake.

Posted by: Concerned in New Haven. | January 7, 2008 8:11 AM

Does it seem like there are a lot of mistakes being made in this block of Downtown?
Is the Mayor going to suggest that the Han's move on from New Haven also. What if they don't have a boat in Florida?

Posted by: nutmeg | January 7, 2008 9:05 AM

Downtown New Haven's new parking lot.

Finally, enough parking!

Posted by: Gerry | January 7, 2008 10:40 AM

Mayorga says
"They were excited about renovating. We were working with them to find them temporary space [for the jewelry store] -- which now looks like it will have to be permanent space,"

However in your pdf article from northside-development.com there is a letter from Mr Hahn in late December stating that the city said that the building was most likely going to have to be demolished.

Which Thursday did this beam fall? Was this a couple of weeks ago?

Posted by: cedarhillresident | January 7, 2008 4:42 PM

I think they would of saved the building if they could. The other questions is how much would it of cost that family to renovated the building? It is not cheap. Is it worth it to save the building? or to start from the ground up?

Posted by: Jared | January 9, 2008 10:39 AM

We should be saving the facades at least. In Memphis tennessee that has become common practice in order save the historic flavor of the city. The facades are propped up structurally until someone builds behind it. It's pure genius. Well said "Charlie."

Another Building Condemned

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