It has been around seven years since the City of Carroll notified former owner of the City Apartments, Tom Daniel, that there were significant safety issues with the building at 224 North Main St. Carroll City Manager, Mike Pogge-Weaver, says in 2013, Daniel told them he was working on renovations. He was granted permission to do the work, but was not to allow residents in until these safety issues have been addressed and the building brought up to code. In 2018, the city became aware people were living in the building, even though these requirements had not been met. They then began the process of having City Apartments designated a dangerous building and purchased it from Daniel in 2019. Since then, they have been working on plans for demolition. One of the major delays in their plans resulted from the city seeking assistance for asbestos removal.
They have since moved forward and have now completed one of the toughest parts of the demolition—that asbestos remediation.
About a week and a half ago, they sent out a request for proposals, seeking contractors to complete the demolition. These are due back tomorrow (Tuesday) and the council will review them at their next meeting on Monday, July 13.
Pogge-Weaver says there has been no cost estimate established for the project. The City of Carroll purchased the property for $31,500 and the asbestos removal cost $57,770. The bottom line is that the city will likely never recoup all the dollars spent on the acquisition and demolition of the City Apartments.
In the long-run, Pogge-Weaver stresses, this is in the best interest of the residents and the city and the costs will be balanced in the future by the additional tax revenues that should be realized with a future project. Again, the demolition is expected to be complete by late August or in September of this year.
