94-year-old downtown buildings demolished

A pair of nearly century-old vacant downtown buildings were demolished in recent weeks after the city of Springfield issued a public nuisance notice.

Crews are clearing debris at 511 St. Louis St., where two buildings under the same address were built in 1920, according to the Greene County assessor's office.

The buildings are owned by the St. Louis Street Trust, adjacent to a vacant lot that had housed the Arbor motel before it was demolished in 2007 and early 2008. On the other side of the 511 St. Louis St. property sits The Old Glass Place event center at 521 E. St. Louis St., and across the street is the Discovery Center children's museum.

The assessor's and recorder's offices did not have contact information on file for the trust. The city notice posted Jan. 24 to the door of one of the buildings called the attention of the trust and Alice Freeman Spackman, who has a Springfield address at 5574 S. Farm Road 137.

Chris Straw, director of the city's department of building development services, said the building owner was contacted after the roofs of the structures collapsed, creating a public safety hazard. The owner met with the department and elected to tear down the buildings of their own accord, Straw said.

The 511 St. Louis St. buildings sat on less than an acre of downtown real estate carrying a 2013 valuation of $346,100, according to the assessor's office.[[In-content Ad]]