Proactive Demolition

Emergency demolition is something we have long worked against. We are appreciative that the City of Albany has been working toward a proactive and thoughtful approach to emergency demolitions. Two buildings have been identified to be the first proactive demolitions. These buildings have been assessed by an engineer and cost estimates for stabilization and rehabilitation were obtained from an independent contractor. HAF reviewed the buildings to determine if they had any historic or architectural significance. 

One of the properties, located on First Street in the West Hill neighborhood, was a long abandoned and neglected home that was causing water leakage and damage to the occupied  home next door.  It was determined that the best course of action was to take this property down.

On Wednesday, December 18th, staff and volunteers from HAF went to the property and were able to salvage radiators, doors (with their original hardware), a fantastic corner sink, moldings and more. 

While Historic Albany Foundation does not condone demolitions in the City of Albany, they still do happen.  If there is ever a positive takeaway, it’s having the ability to salvage materials from the home prior to its demise.   This defers some of the materials from the landfill, and into our Architectural Parts Warehouse for sale to raise funds to further our mission.

And in this case, working with Rick LaJoy from Code Enforcement and Sam Wells, the City’s Neighborhood Stabilization Coordinator, in a proactive manner has made for the best case of a bad situation.  In addition to parts being salvaged, it is expected that the neighbor in the adjoining home is going to purchase the land once it’s vacant, so the empty lot will be cared for and maintained moving forward.

Lastly, it is worth noting that there has not been an emergency demolition in the City of Albany since early November.