Demolition continues in downtown Unionville

UNIONVILLE, MO. --

A little more than a month ago, the citizens of Unionville woke up to a collapsed building downtown. KTVO has received calls from residents who said the demolition process is too slow.

On the corner of 17th and Main, the building that collapsed on April 8 housed a local photography studio called Lace Image Photography. Local businesses said contractors are not working fast enough, and sometimes not at all. They also said the loss of parking space is affecting their business. Unionville City Administrator John Roach said the bricks are being saved for a reason. The bricks have been piled up there so that once the subfloor is gone the bricks will actually go into the hole, Roach said. The contractor has a brick crusher and makes it for a nice fill and saves a little bit a money.

Roach said contractors were delayed about two weeks.The back side of that building was actually connected to the adjacent building, he said. So, they had to re-plan and have engineers come out and look at it so it delayed the process a week in a half or so.

Roach said citizens have been calling him about the demolition. He said he stays in contact with the owners and contractors, but the citys responsibility is to protect the public. It is up to the owners and the insurance companies to kind of hash everything out and they've been working pretty well at it, but (residents are) still free to call up here and ask questions and get updates.

Roach said he hopes residents will be patient. I know it's been a headache for most of the folks here in town, because we've had to detour and it's caused no parking issues. And, hopefully we'll see the light real soon and our little town can get back to normal.

For previous storyclick HERE.

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Demolition continues in downtown Unionville