Two familiar buildings for those traveling down Main and/or Shelby Street in Falmouth will soon be no more.
Costs to bring the the Assembly Buidling to a point that they it was structurally sound reached a level that it became financially unfeasible to move forward on the building.
“It is heartbreaking,” said owner Jaime Herbst who has also taken ownership and started renovating other buidlings in Falmouth. “We could not do enough to turn it around.”
She indicated there were a lot of brains who looked at the building and tried to find a path to save the building but at the end of the day, the costs were just too much to save the building.
According to Mayor Ron Stinson, one of the issues affecting the Assembly Building is the building next to it, the Bishop Hotel.
He said that the building is either attached or leaning on the Assembly Building and there are concerns on what will happen with it when the tearing down of the Assembly Building would begin.
“A problem exists and there is a safety hazard for the community,” said Stinson.
Herbst has an offer extended to take ownership of the building on Monday, April 12. If that offer is firmly accepted and transfer of ownership occurs, they will begin the process of finalizing plans to first tear down the Bishop Hotel building.
The building is a wood structure and there is concern on what water has done to the soundess of the building and what will happen to it when the Assembly Building comes down.
As a result, a tentative plan is in place for it to be torn down first.
According to Stinson, there is to be a logistics meeting to discuss the steps in tearing down both buildings. That meeting would include if and when the streets would need to be closed for safety reasons.
Stinson pointed out that closing Shelby Street is not an issue but that Main Street is a state road (Highway 22) and the state would have to be contacted to have it temporarily shut down.
The third building on the block of Main Street was bought by Paul Duncan in the fall of 2019. He recently passed away and while there has been communication with the family on its status, no decision has been made on what to do with the building.
As far as the property once it becomes vacant, Herbst said, “There is no immediate plans because of the financial loss we have taken on it. Maybe something in the future but not any time soon. We have other renovation projects that we are focusing on and will be more beneficial to the town.”
