American Demolition President Don Buchs has been a busy man in 2023.
On Dec. 27, Buchs completed his final demolition of the year, tearing down an abandoned building located at 925 Colorado Ave. in Lorain. Formerly known as Lakeside Bait Shop, Buchs said the building had been condemned by the city, sitting vacant for at least a year.
“It was a condemned building for a good time in the city,” Buchs said. “We’re cleaning up a lot of demos in town here… It was quite a few, and (next year), we’re going to be tearing a lot more down.”
Buchs said that the Colorado Avenue building was one of the more dire situations he cleaned up this year. The demolition list in Lorain has seen 22 properties demolished this year, according to Lorain Chief Building Official Dave Faciana.
“This was a bad one,” Buchs said. “It must have been a year or so; it’s been condemned for a while. The city kind of just steps in and gets them cleaned up like that.”
Faciana said that he has been chief building official for about a year now. The building was condemned and abandoned when he took the position.
Faciana said that next year will be round three of demolitions around the city. Although 22 properties were razed this year, he said that the city still has quite a few on the list before they can complete their beautification project.
“It’s making a dent, but we still have a little ways to go to fully accomplish what we’re trying to do, as far as getting rid of nuisance and blight properties,” he said. “There’s multiple factors (to making the list). We’re looking at, is it vacant and abandoned? What are the code violations? Are there safety issues?”
The city is currently working with state and national officials on the next round of demolitions, according to Faciana. He said that there is a chance that a few properties could be saved, either by rehabilitation or being registered as a historic place.
“If someone asks us about a property that may be vacant (and) how they can acquire it, and what the status of it is, if it can be rehabbed,” he said. “We do have a lot of properties that are dilapidated, and yet still have good bone structure, where it can be renovated.”
It is unlikely that any of the next round of properties will be awarded historic building status, Faciana said. However, the city still wants to complete due diligence procedures, before moving to the next steps of the demolition process in 2024.
