3 more rundown structures added to city's demolition list

The city of Cape Girardeau has condemned 95 dilapidated structures over the past six fiscal years, resulting in the demolition of 64 buildings, according to data provided Wednesday by development-services director Alex McElroy.

Steve Williams, housing assistance coordinator for the city, said the city has made progress in removing vacant, rundown structures.

"Our list (of such structures) gets shorter and shorter," he said.

He said the city's adoption of minimum housing standards has encouraged property owners to do a better job of maintaining their buildings.

Since fiscal 2012, 45 buildings have been rehabilitated, according to city records.

This building at 130 S. Frederick St. is slated for demolition in Cape Girardeau.Fred Lynch

McElroy and Williams said every effort is made to have the property owners repair or raze their buildings.

"Condemnation should be the last resort," Williams said.

In the past four fiscal years, the city has razed 14 of 44 structures that have been torn down. Property owners removed the other 30 structures, city records show.

In fiscal 2016, "the city did not demo any properties for the year but were successful in getting nine properties to agree to demolish the buildings themselves, and seven agreed to rehabilitate the properties," McElroy said in an email to the Southeast Missourian.

"The city's goal is to gain compliance with building standards without having to expend public funds," McElroy said in the email.

Nine structures are in various stages of the condemnation process, he said.

The city council Monday awarded two demolition contracts to remove three of those structures at a cost of $54,000.

Those buildings are at 615 Good Hope St. (rear), 811 S. Ranney Ave. and 130 S. Frederick St.

Demolishing the Frederick Street building alone will cost $38,700, according to city planner Ryan Shrimplin. The long-vacant structure once housed Missouri Department of Social Services offices.

The council also voted Monday to spend $11,300 to raze a vacant house on city-owned property at 725 Independence St. to provide added parking space for fire station No. 1.

That soon-to-be-demolished house is not on the condemnation list.

McElroy and Williams said condemnation can be costly to the city. When the city pays to demolish a privately owned structure, it seeks to recover the costs through issuance of tax bills.

But the city frequently is unable to recover costs from property owners, many of whom live out of state, officials said.

Williams said this situation is faced by all local governments.

"Nationwide, condemnation is a losing process," he added.

Many of the rundown buildings are on small lots. Once the structures are razed, the city ends up maintaining those lots because developers have little interest in building on those sites, Williams said.

The city has spent more than $232,000 to demolish condemned buildings since fiscal 2011, according to city finance director John Richbourg.

Richbourg said he did not have any figures immediately on how much of that cost may have been recovered through tax bills.

mbliss@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3641

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Demolitions by the numbers

Cape Girardeau demolitions Fiscal 2012

• Demolitions: 11

Fiscal 2013

• Demolitions: 9

Fiscal 2014

• Demolitions: 10

Fiscal 2015

• Demolitions: 19

Fiscal 2016

• Demolitions: 9

Fiscal 2017

• Demolitions: 6

Demolitions include those paid for city, property owners

Source: City of Cape Girardeau Development Services