RELATED: Demolition underway at site of Tri-State Pallet fire
The Hursh Container factory — despite sharing a wall with the Tri-State Pallet warehouse — did not sustain much damage from a massive fire in 2015. The razing took place on Wednesday mainly because it was a public nuisance due to lack of maintenance, according to city officials.
“The main building on the site had a roof collapse,” said Steve Thompson, Springfield’s Planning, Zoning and Code Administrator. “It was full of junk and trash from where people have dumped in there.”
Thompson also said there were big holes in the parking lot, and the abandoned Mill Run sewer, which runs underneath the building, was beginning to collapse.
The building is still under the ownership of Beverly Hursh and James Godwin. Thompson said the city decided to move forward with demolition after issuing orders to both the owners and receiving consent.
The $50,000 used for demolition came from city economic development funds, and those costs will be added as a tax assessment to the property, city officials said.
Springfield Fire Chief Brian Miller said the department was aware of existing issues with Hursh building.
“It was already on our radar as a code enforcement on the fire side,” he said.
The demolition continued a change in the area, which started in 2015, when Tri-State Pallet caught on fire and captured national attention.
The five-alarm fire tore through the warehouse and burned for more than 24 hours. Firefighters from multiple jurisdictions worked in freezing temperatures to contain the fire from spreading to the Hursh building because the sprinkler system was not functional, and the owner told officials it was full of tires.
“We are very lucky that that building didn’t also catch fire, because of the tremendous fuel load in there,” Miller said in 2015.
Fire officials stated at the time that the fire was not set on purpose, and no one was in the building at the time of the blaze.
This wasn’t Tri-State Pallet’s first fire — another in 2013 caused heavy damage to the building’s roof.
MORE: Roof of Springfield business heavily damaged by fire
The next steps for the Hursh Container factory site are still uncertain.
“What we’re going to try to do is move forward getting the county to foreclose on it for taxes,” Thompson said. After that, it’s unclear in what direction the property will go.
The city said there are not any immediate plans for redevelopment, but it does keeep the open the door for other opportunities.
“Now that those buildings are gone, hopefully we can market and move those pieces to have development there,” said Bryan Heck, Springfield’s deputy city manager.
BY THE NUMBERS
$50K: Cost to demolish both buildings of the Hursh Container factory in downtown Springfield
174: Combined age of the two structures
24: Hours fire burned at Tri-State Pallet before flames were completely extinguished
About the Author