All Four Buildings on North End of Barnard Street Targeted for Demolition

All four buildings on the north end of Barnard Street in Hopkins, across from the Spalding Insurance building and the Roxy Theater, have been condemned and targeted for demolition by the City of Hopkins after the middle two buildings caved in, with debris falling on the former 102 Valley Bank building and the former Legion building Wednesday night.

Barnard Street was blocked off to traffic Thursday. On Friday, the Hopkins City Council called an emergency city council meeting to discuss the situation. The council appointed Jim Wiederholt as Building Commissioner and appointed a building commission consisting of Mark Hoover, Danny Titus, Roger Florea, Colby Hayes, and Allan Coleman. These votes were unanimous. Taryn Henry was the attorney for the project, and she was present at the meeting.

While two of the appointed members, Hoover and Hayes, were out of town, Titus, Florea, and Coleman were in attendance Friday allowing them to form a quorum. Wiederholt testified that the collapse of the middle two buildings made all four buildings dangerous and unsafe. He said that debris had fallen on the 102 Valley building and the Legion building, and that the front wall of the 2nd building from the left was in danger of collapse. He recommended that the building commission declare all four buildings an immediate danger and a detriment to public safety, which they did unanimously. 

The rest is up to the city to work with the property owners regarding the demolition and cleanup costs.