And the Walls Came Tumbling Down, Tumbling Down

IRONWOOD, MI - Thursday, July 30, 2009  - Ken and Brandon Fahrner of Fahrner Excavating razed the building at 118 East Aurora Street today. Demolition of the former Sharon's / Power's Place on the City's main street began yesterday afternoon, and the front facade came tumbling down just before the 5:00 whistle. Prior to being Power's Place, Joy-C's Cafe occupied the space, and before that, many old-timers will remember that the building was the home of the Pancake House.

Demolition of the building was a joint effort between the Downtown Ironwood Development Authority (DIDA), the City of Ironwood, and Gogebic County. The DIDA spent their entire fund balance of $5,000 on the project. The City of Ironwood spent over $10,000, and Gogebic County paid for asbestos removal. The building is currently listed for Gogebic County tax-sale. On August 14, the auction will be held at the Gogebic Community College, and the property will be sold to the highest bidder. A minimum bid for the vacant downtown lot will be approximately $21,000 ($6,000 for the taxes owed on the property plus approximately $15,000 for demolition costs). 

If the property is sold at the first auction, the City of Ironwood and the DIDA will recoup the money they spent on demolition. If, however, nobody offers the minimum bid at the August auction, the property will be offered again at a no-minimum bid auction in October. In that case, the City and the DIDA will not be reimbursed for the demolition costs.

DIDA Chairman George Goerig has been fixated on the building for some time. Initially Goerig believed the building could be salvaged and rehabilitated, even though several downtown businesspeople and DIDA members told him the building could not be saved. Once Goerig walked through the building he realized the poor condition of the building and he's been anal to tear it down ever since.

Few people would disagree that the building needed to be razed. However, critics of the demolition argued that the City should have purchased the property -- gained legal possession of it -- and then applied for grant funds to have the building destroyed. The DIDA is currently trying to implement the new Blueprint Plan that the City spend $15,000 to compile. The plan urges the City to (1) show results in order to gain the confidence of potential funders -- be they local, state, or federal; (2) do more, in terms of  needed implementation, to get more funding; and (3) recognize that "significant" projects -- that will garner attention and support from potential funders -- are not necessarily large and costly.

Instead of doing a couple of large and costly improvements, the Blueprint suggests that many small and inexpensive improvements be made at first -- to attract funders. It says once funding is available, then larger more expensive projects can be proposed. Hyett-Palma, the designers of the Blueprint Plan, realize that the City of Ironwood, like many cities these days, has cash flow issues. For that reason, it highly recommended making small, inexpensive improvements in the beginning to show funding agents that the City is capable of making big changes with limited funds, and is truly committed to improving their downtown.