After a delay in demolition, former Rockford grocery store burns. Here’s what the lag cost the city

By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — A City Council decision to delay demolition of a dilapidated former grocery store may wind up costing Rockford additional money after fire ravaged the property this week.

Fire consumed the former Al-Mart at 2323 W. State St. around 8:40 p.m. Monday night, forcing multiple fire companies to respond to control the blaze. The cause of the fire has not yet been determined. No firefighters were hurt while responding.

The fire happened about one month after City Council members approved a $104,780 contract with N-Trak Group of Loves Park to demolish the city-owned property. But that decision came after members decided in mid-August to delay their vote for a month after Alderwoman Linda McNeely raised issue with the demolition.

“That’s why we wanted to demolish those properties, because that’s what can happen,” said Karl Franzen, the city’s director of community and economic development. “It’s a great example of why when we have the opportunity and the funds to take care of those properties that don’t have redevelopment potential, why we need to take them down.”

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The fire will add a couple thousand dollars of additional cost to the demolition, Franzen said. That’s because demolition crews had not yet completed the asbestos abatement before the fire. That means all the materials must be treated as if they’re contaminated by asbestos and hauled to a landfill rather than reused or recycled.

“The fortunate part is it’s not that big of a structure; it won’t be that much more,” he said. “It’s going to be a couple thousand dollars. It’s not going to be significant enough to do a new contract.”

Franzen there was no specific timeline the demolition crew had to meet to tear down the property after the contract was awarded in mid-September. While he said it may be revisionist, or an example of “hindsight is 20/20,” to put blame on the delay, it is likely asbestos removal if not demolition would have been complete had the project been awarded in August as intended.

Franzen’s team had presented the property for demolition to City Council in August, saying tearing down the structure was the best way to prime the land to attract a developer. But after McNeely raised concerns about the demolition, Alderman Mark Bonne proposed a 30-day delay to allow her more time to speak with staff about the proposal.

Council members agreed to that delay, voting 11-1 to push the vote back for a month. Alderman Bill Rose voted against the delay.

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When the vote resurfaced again Sept. 19, McNeely again asked for a delay. She said she was circulating a petition among residents to ask people what they wanted to see at the site. She wanted demolition delayed until those petitions could be returned.

“We’ve seen a number of buildings throughout the years come down and the community is not knowing what they’re proposing to put there,” McNeely said during the meeting.

Mayor Tom McNamara and some aldermen stressed that demolishing the site was a better way to spur development, and that the rundown nature of the building was why no redevelopment proposals existed.

“It’s actually more desirable of a site location — it’s actually a wonderful location — but it’s more desirable if the building’s down,” McNamara said during the meeting. “It’s actually of less value with the dilapidated structure on it.”

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City Council voted 9-4 against delaying demolition for another 30 days with Aprel Prunty, McNeely, Tuffy Quinonez and Mark Bonne supporting an additional delay.

Once the delay failed, council members voted 11-2 to approve the demolition contract with Prunty and Quinonez voting against.

Editor’s note: This article has been updated to clarify who made the initial motion to delay a vote.

This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on Twitter at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas.