County work crews continued the task of demolition and cleanup through Friday afternoon and all of Saturday. After getting the western wall of the Hankins Building down Friday, most of the crew focused on the cleanup effort. Truck after truck hauled loads of debris to the County Landfill in a what no doubt was a well orchestrated machine. As one truck was loaded, more were readied behind along Main Street throughout Friday afternoon and Saturday.
Significant progress was made on clearing the backside exterior bricks from the east portion of the Hankins Building. Crews had been working on that job by hand to try and mitigate any potential for damage to several power lines and fiber optic lines running near the structure to the south.
The next task will be the removal of the eastern half of the Hankins Building. Following that there will be two more buildings to go before the work is complete.
Saturday dealt the men difficult conditions as the humidity and temperatures were quite high. Judge Klay McKinney, his wife LaWanda, and Brenda Adair fed the County workers a BBQ lunch on the Court Square as a thank you for their hard work.
A number of City of Warren officials and workers have also been present helping on site throughout the demolition project, including Fire Chief Chuck Moore and Street Foreman Monty Hearnsberger.
Below are more aerial images of the site taken Saturday afternoon.
Are there any plans for the area once demolition is complete? While a new business may be a challenge, perhaps a park? Could include a stage for local use as well as PTF. Maybe a seasonal farmer’s market.
Not happy someone was put out of business after 27 years. Six people lost jobs they really needed…they’re not celebrating…they’re worrying about how they’re going to pay their bills…
Wasn’t the building considered unsafe?
Wayne’s could have been saved. It needed new roof and repairs to pool hall back wall. My sister had already excepted bid on roof. Just waiting on contractor. They were given 10 days to make repairs or get out. Saving Wayne’s would have messed up the plan. If you go back to one of the original articals you can see where Johnathan Bradford disputed what was printed.
Yes, as we reported April 18, Larry Schmalz of Schmalz Engineering confirmed the building was “dangerous now,” and “should not be occupied until major repairs are made to them.” And from what we have learned since, multiple other inspections from both the City Building Official, Fire Chief, the State Fire Marshall, a separate professional architect, as well as the structural engineer all came to the same conclusion that all of the buildings were major hazards to the community. The City sought all of the above opinions in order to make sure that condemnation was the only option, and the owners were informed along the way of all of the findings, as well as told they were welcome to bring in their own expert to get another opinion. Saline River Chronicle stands 100% behind all of our reporting on the subject.
On Monday of last week, Saline River Chronicle was granted access by the County to both the Sandwich Shop and the Hankins buildings. We can confirm that both buildings had serious issues, even from the brief walk-through we conducted.
Perhaps they could relocate to another location equipped with a kitchen. Isn’t there one pretty close ?
If any buildings are erected where these old icons once stood, it might be a good idea to avoid flat roofs this time. It is easy to second guess what happened. Here is what you don’t have to guess about: If a soul was injured or even worse killed as the result of one of these buildings collapsing, the community would be asking: “ Why didn’t someone do something? “. The ensuing legal and emotional implications would have been devastating to Warren and to the affected families. I know it is hard for the owners and employees of the Sandwich Shop. Our hearts must go out to them. I have read a lot of criticism on this site about my hometown since this online venue started. This is one case where those elected by the citizens of Warren got out in front of a catastrophe waiting to happen. May this tragedy be the start of something better than we could have ever expected for all of Warren, including the Sandwich Shop, their customers and their employees.
Since freedom of speech and opinion is what we have here it is….I Doubt Very Seriously if Anyone Cares one Bit about the Owners of the Sandwich Shop or Their FORMER EMPLOYEES!! But ONE thing we can be sure of here….THAT PINK TOMATO FESTIVAL will Crank up on time regardless, come h or high water. Now, I wonder when the rest of the DILAPIDATED BUILDINGS are going to be dealt with???? And THERE ARE MORE ON MAIN STREET AND SOUTH MYRTLE. They could end in a catastrophe too even though they are not on the Town Square.