There is a bit of a mess in the 500 block of Main Street, where about two weeks ago a portion of a brick wall fell away from the 519/521 building, leading to the closure of the sidewalk and one of two southbound traffic lanes in the middle of downtown. A portion of the brick facade fell away from the building Sept. 24 — tearing off an awning and closing the sidewalk and a portion of the southbound traffic and parking lanes on Main Street. The commission learned that city staff has been working with the building owner in the past two weeks, not only to get the street reopened but to work through challenges as the result of the building being part of a historic district and listed on multiple registries. According to a search of the Harvey County Appraiser’s records, the building was constructed in 1890. City staff believes the building was constructed even earlier — in 1878. “What fell off of the building is the 1930′s facade, which is what was called the buildings period of historical significance,” Kelly McElroy, assistant city manager for the city of Newton said. “The original brick that you see underneath is from the 1870s. What they are working to determine is with the rest of the facade that is left, what is the structural condition of that brick.”
Options for the building may include removing the 1930s brick, reinforcing the 1870s brick and moving forward. If that is not an option, it may be necessary to tear the wall down and rebuild it from the ground up. City staff has been looking for possible grant funds to assist with the reconstruction of the building due to its historical listings.
“Unfortunately the monies available at the state level, even though they would be awarded in November and December, would not be available until summer of the next year — and you can not start the project until the grant is awarded. That is not an option, we can not leave it like this all winter,” McElroy said.
(Read more: Newton Kansan)