Newport News considers demolition of nearly 300 vacant structures

The city has found nearly 300 structures that appear to be vacant all but seven of which are south of Mercury Boulevard.

As part of a city initiative to demolish more abandoned properties than in the past, inspectors began riding around the city south of Mercury this fall doing "windshield surveys" assessing the condition of properties without going inside. Structures that were obviously vacant with code violations went on a list.

Of the 289 apparent vacant properties, the city has flagged about 111 for demolition so far. About 10 demolitions have been completed, while 11 more have been awarded to contractors and will come down soon. The city plans to seek bids for demolitions of at least another 48 structures this winter.

North of Mercury, the city is identifying vacant properties by searching tax records to find properties for which owners have not paid taxes in several years, then going to check them out.

The vast majority of the vacant structures are in the Southeast Community houses, corner stores and even churches. On one residential block of 21st Street, from Wickham to Marshall avenues, nearly every house on both sides of the street is vacant.

Harry Thomas, who has lived on that block his whole life, said many of the vacant houses on his street are owned by rental companies. "For rent" signs with phone numbers were still posted to several of the boarded-up homes on a recent afternoon.

Councilwoman Tina Vick said absentee landlords such as these have been a major issue for the Southeast Community.

"They rent it out to people who they can't monitor because they're not in the area, so they end up renting to problematic people," Vick said.

The city recently demolished a two-story building at the corner of Ivy Avenue and 9th Street about a block from Vick's house.

"Nobody wants to wake up every day and have a house that's falling apart on our street or next door to them," Vick said. "When our community looks better, people feel better, and when people feel better, they do better."

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Newport News considers demolition of nearly 300 vacant structures