LARNED — One of the first brick buildings built on Broadway Street in Larned will soon be coming down.

The Larned City Council on Monday invoked a state statute authorizing the city to demolish the Opera House, located at 402-410 Broadway, after meeting criteria as an “imminent danger” to public safety. Discussion at the highly-attended meeting included a review of the engineer’s report sought by staff to determine the building’s condition after the Dec. 15 windstorm highlighted concern about the stability of downtown area structures.

Following the review, the council heard from tenants of the building or their representatives, and discussed demolition options and state statutes governing the city’s procedural action regarding dangerous structures.

Background

Following the Dec. 15, 2021 derecho, Larned City Manager Brad Eilts contacted Engineering Consultants, P.A. in Hutchinson to evaluate the structure. EC consultant Chase Brecheisen and Larned Building Inspector Will Tice conducted a walk-through, noting that the building’s continuous upper floor had sustained considerable deterioration and portions of the roof had collapsed. Additionally, the external north wall was observed to be separating from the roof and posed a danger of collapse onto the adjacent occupied single-story building at 412 Broadway. To the south, the exterior wall also had deteriorated, cracked, was out-of-plumb and in danger of collapse. Because the addresses of 402-410 Broadway were essentially one structure and first-floor walls were interdependent, owners or their representatives were informed that demolition of any one portion may impact the structural integrity of the others.

Brecheisen recommended that the occupants of the law office at 412 Broadway vacate their building in the event that the wall began to fail. Tice and city staff installed sidewalk barricades and posted “no entry” notices, with barriers on the doors and windows to prevent entry from the public.  

Report review, discussion

At the meeting, EC owner Brent Engelland met with the council via Zoom to discuss the report and answer questions. He explained that while debris limiting access had prevented a comprehensive evaluation, it was his opinion that enough deterioration had been observed to warrant the razing of the entire structure.

“I have reviewed all the information that Chase gathered on site for me,” he said. “The concern is primarily the condition of the whole Opera House structure. As we reviewed the condition of the north wall, it became apparent there are pretty significant separation cracks. We really recommend that the building to the north not be occupied until the matter can be resolved. The holes in the roof are concerning because the Opera House is different than a lot of the downtown buildings in that it doesn’t have party walls between each section. What that means is that the sections all act together more than other downtown buildings would.

“On the southeast corner, the concern there is that both cracks have enough separation that they effectively render the corner no longer attached to the building.”

Engelland noted that there were several areas that didn’t appear safe to walk in and so the report did not include investigation of the basements in the building.

Mayor William Nusser then invited tenants or their representatives to address the council.

Heather Helvie, owner of 412 Broadway, asked that the city move “with a tremendous sense of urgency,” to resolve the issue and allow her to return to her building and place of business.

Appeal to save portion

Alan Martin, owner-under-contract of the building’s center section at 406 Broadway, said that his was a different situation because he had taken steps to improve his building.

“I should certainly have the option to repair my building after the demolition of the sections to the north and south of me,” he said. “The Opera House was built and somewhere in there was broken into several buildings with separate addresses. You are expected to collect taxes from each address. I’m the only owner of record who is current on paying taxes. I’ve put a lot of my own money into restoration of this building; I’ve put about 15 floor jacks under the floor. Structurally, there is nothing out of sorts.

“I would just ask that my building, which is sound, be left as a part of Larned history. I’m a 1993 Larned graduate; I appreciate the history of Larned and I appreciate the forward movement that Larned has. I see a lot of good things coming Larned’s way and I would love to be able to be a part of that in the future.

“But that being said, I want to do what’s best for the City of Larned. If I’m out my investment, so be it, but I want to do what’s best for the community.”

Appeal to demolish 

Mark Cowell, part owner of 412 Broadway, said that it was a mistake to view the addresses of 402-410 Broadway as separate buildings. “This was one building that the city has carved out condominiums on the first floor for different businesses. There is only one building, it has four corners, and one of the corners as the engineer has explained has fallen away from the building,” he said.

“There is only one roof, and it’s caving in.”

Cowell said that he realized that the situation was rare, and unusual and emotional to deal with a city block as a portion of the community’s history, but there was only one course of action.

“We’re not really here tonight to decide what to do, because there is only one option forward at this point,” he said. “The city has overwhelming evidence that this building is in imminent danger of collapse. This is an undisputed fact.

“Everyone who has inspected this building says that it is in imminent danger of collapse,” he continued. “Beyond that, the city has already taken action under the authority of imminent danger. The city has taken action to remove people from their lawful occupation. The city is now responsible. And every day that the building remains standing while the city doesn’t take them down increases the city’s culpability.

“I’m sorry, it’s a shame. But there is imminent danger of collapse, and the buildings have to come down now.”

Moving to demolish

A poll of the community structured by Mayor Nusser indicated that the building should be demolished at the cost of the owners with no compensation. Responses from 100 residents participating indicated 20.83% favored building to be repaired at the cost of the owners, with 39.58% favoring the building razed at cost of the owner; 18.75% favored the building repaired at city cost, while 20.83% favored the building demolished at city cost. Nearly three-fourths of those participating did not favor compensation to the owners, while 26.53% favored owner compensation.

The council then discussed procedural details in preparing to demolish the Opera House, and also the Carson Hotel building at 400 Broadway to the south. In a roll-call vote, the council unanimously agreed to seek bids for demolition, with a special meeting to be called if more than one bid is received, and plans to begin immediate demolition once a bid is approved.