FREDERICKTOWN — Initial hope that a Fredericktown building damaged by fire March 28 could be saved, will not be realized after all, according to the building’s longtime owner.
Brad Swihart, who has owned the building at 88 N. Main St. for 20 years, and once lived there with his family, said he carefully weighed the costs of repairing the building and bringing it into code compliance, and found them to be too high.
The building will be demolished before the end of the month.
“I hate to do that, but for the money it would take to bring it back up to satisfy the current codes, we can’t [repair it],” Swihart said.
The building where the fire started at 80-84 N. Main St., was destroyed in the fire. The Fredericktown Community Fire District determined the fire was probably caused by an electrical problem.
The burned out remains of that building, owned by Dorothy Hoovler of Delaware, were demolished shortly after the fire.
The lot will soon be covered with topsoil and seeded with grass. “We want it to look nice,” Hoovler said.
According to Swihart, he plans to do the same with his lot after his building comes down.
“For now it will be a green space,” Fredericktown Mayor Roger Reed said Friday. “There has been no discussion about the future of the properties because we didn’t know what the owners planned on doing.”
Reed said now that Swihart has decided to demolish his building as well, the village administration would like to see something rebuilt on both lots which would benefit the village, and aesthetically remain consistent with the rest of the historical buildings downtown.
Neither Hoovler, nor Swihart, has announced if the lots will be placed up for sale soon. Swihart said he has not decided if he will sell.
“That I just don’t know yet,” he told the News on Friday.
