SHAMOKIN - The demolition of a longtime eyesore and condemned property on North Market Street has been delayed due to a prior commitment on another project by the contractor.
Full-scale work on razing the building is scheduled to occur in the next couple weeks.
Shamokin Community Development Director Lynn Dixson said Madonna Enterprises of Port Carbon, the contractor for the demolition project at 28-32 N. Market St., was scheduled to begin work Feb. 20, but was delayed due to a project the company is working on in Allentown.
Dixson said a couple of employees from Madonna Enterprises have removed a small amount of debris from the building during the past few weeks, but full-scale demolition work won't begin until later this month.
In an effort to help the City of Shamokin expedite the demolition of the property, Northumberland County commissioners agreed in October to waive the $500 minimum bid fee for the property and sell it to the city for $1.
The demolition project has been approved by the state Department of Community and Economic Development. Community development block grants will be used to finance the demolition, which is expected to cost between $60,000 to $70,000.
The former apartment building had a minimum starting bid of $1,235.62 at a judicial sale in August, which represented the costs incurred by the county to bring the property to sale. However, no one bid on the property.
Former owner Orlando Mirarchi and his company, Orlando Development Corp., failed to pay more than $9,000 in past property taxes.
After a partial collapse that left a two story-high gaping hole in the building in 2009, then-Shamokin code enforcement officer Barry Stoud cited Mirarchi in 2010 on 21 counts of failure to repair the building according to the building code. Mirarchi appealed the decision, but the appeal was denied.
Still, Mirarchi can no longer be cited under the code because the building was offered in a June tax upset sale. A past court decision ruled that the county was the trustee for the property.
A joint effort between Shamokin, Northumberland County and Shamokin Area School District to tear the building down was planned in June, but fell apart, according to Mayor George Rozinskie.