By Alex Gary - September 22nd 2024

 

BELOIT

The walls of the building that has jutted out over the Rock River since 1921 should come a crumbling down starting this week.

Workers have been demolishing the interior of the building at 80-100 E. Grand Ave. since early July. Last week, workers assembled a crane that will remove the rooftop air-conditioning units. The units are scheduled to be removed starting Monday, Sept. 13. Once that’s completed, workers will focus on the exterior walls, the City of Beloit announced Friday.

The 31,000-square-foot downtown building, which dates back to 1892 and was used briefly this century by Kerry Inc. and FatWallet.com, has long been vacant. The building has long been a curiosity because of the addition that extends out over the river. The 11,380-square-foot addition was built in 1921 by the S.S. Kresge Co., which would later change its name to KMart Corp.

In 1999, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources determined the building must come down by 2042 because it posed a threat of eventually collapsing into the river.

East Grand Development LLC, an entity set up by Hendricks Commercial Properties, bought the building in 2015 for $1. The city, though, took over ownership of the building in 2022 so that it could receive $1.6 million in grants from the DNR to assist in tearing down the building.

Removing the building should alleviate some flooding issues and the city will be able to extend the Rock River Trail/Downtown Riverwalk.

In May, the city approved a $5.9 million contract with R.G. Huston Co. of Cottage Grove for the demolition. That was considerably higher than the engineering estimate of $3.5 estimate. Once engineering costs are included, the project, which will include having to divert the river at some point, could cost as much as $6.5 million.

The city is spending $500,000 for the riverwalk extension. No city funds will be spent on the demolition. Hendricks has agreed to match the grant funds received by the city. With the costs coming in considerably higher than first expected, the city is applying for additional grant money.

The city will maintain ownership of the riverwalk area but will eventually give the property back to Hendricks. In March, Hendricks announced it intends to build a four-story, 48,000-square-foot mixed use building on the site that would include space for restaurants, retail stores, commercial offices and residential apartments.

The new building will have to wait. Because of the complexity of the tear down, demolition isn’t expected to be complete until the summer of 2025.

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