Building Near Bridge Demolished

A demolition crew Thursday afternoon took down a long-vacant white stucco building right on the Quinnipiac River at the northwestern approach to the Grand Avenue Bridge.

Officials say it was in danger of collapsing and falling into the river immediately below.

The demolition of the building, at 16 East Grand Ave, was carried out, under orders from the Building Department.

The long-standing demolition order was unconnected to the community celebration scheduled for Friday to mark the 18-month closing of the Grand Avenue Bridge for repairs, said Carlos Eyzaguirre, a city economic development staffer who is helping to coordinate Friday’s event.

The building ​“had a large crack running through it rendering it unsound,” Eyzaguirre reported.

It had to be taken down for public safety purposes, he added; there was also a chance it might have fallen into the river.

Currently owned by Putnam Cove LLC out of Newton Mass., the building had once been part of a proposed development called Quinnipiac Village —a combination of retail space, a restaurant, and condo units all with riverine views, which developer Joel Schiavone and his partners were hoping to build.

That was in the days in the run-up to the 2008 market collapse. When financing for the project could not be obtained, the project foundered and then was abandoned.

Among the rental tenants in the building in the years since was coffee purveyor Mark Orintas and his Bare Beans shop. He had offered ​“coffee cupping,” or tasting, along with the usual java and breakfast options and for a happy interlude in 2008 and 2009 the place functioned as a now much missed morning gathering spot for local Fair Haveners.

Although the building was not specifically demolished for the celebration, Eyzaguiurre said in an email message, ​“we would have put up a temp fence if it wasn’t. “

There was no word at press time whether the considerable mounds of rubble would be able to be removed by evening Friday, when the party is to begin.