Access made to basement

The view through the front door of 201 S. Main shows the extensive damage caused by the fire Monday.
MOUNT VERNON — Investigators looking into the cause of the fire that consumed the former Kresge building at 201 S. Main St., were able to access the basement on Thursday after the uncontaminated water was pumped out.

  • Jacob

    The exterior masonry walls and steel skeleton are structurally sound–this gives me a flicker of hope (just a flicker, mind you) that the exterior shell can be saved and a new building built inside. That would be wonderful–it would save an attractive building that simply wouldn’t be rebuilt otherwise, it would preserve the streetscape, and it would provide ample rentable space for downtown.

    Probably won’t happen, but it would sure be good for Mount Vernon, if somebody could figure out how to do it in a financially sensible way.