Estimate is $418.5K to demolish condemned Ware building; Town Meeting will debate expense Monday – masslive.com

WARE Town Meeting on Monday will decide whether to appropriate $418,500 to demolish a privately owned building downtown at 112-114 Main St.

The Board of Selectmen last month ordered the owner to tear it down by Oct. 1, and also scheduled a special Town Meeting for Aug. 17 to appropriate funds should the owner refuse to do so.

Town officials say the building has become a public safety hazard and it could collapse onto the roadway, potentially causing injury or death. Built in 1890, it was condemned nine years ago when a section of roof collapsed.

Town Manager Stuart Beckley on Friday said the engineering firm Tighe & Bond was paid $1,700 to estimate the cost to demolish the three-story brick building.

The Town Meeting packet published Friday includes a letter, addressed to the buildings co-owner, Daniel Barenboym, from a different engineering firm, Consulting Structural Engineer Inc., that says the cost to rehabilitate the building would far exceed the cost to demolish.

Barenboym has objected to the demolition order. He told the Selectboard last month he plans to fix the building and could take legal action against the town to prevent its demolition.

Included in the $418,500 demolition cost is $150,000 for removal of hazardous materials possibly including but not limited to asbestos. Preparation prior to demolition will cost $12,000, the Tighe & Bond estimate says.

The Ware Finance Committee was scheduled to meet earlier this week to possibly make a recommendation on the funding request, but lack of a quorum caused their meetings cancellation.

Mondays special Town Meeting will convene outside at the high school football field, 237 West St., starting at 6:30 p.m.

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Estimate is $418.5K to demolish condemned Ware building; Town Meeting will debate expense Monday - masslive.com