Repairs ordered, demolition remains halted at historic Troy building

TROY — Crews cannot do any more demolition work on a historic building in Troy for the time being.

News Center 7 was in court Tuesday afternoon when the property owner and representatives from the city appeared in court for a hearing about the building that the city says we partially demolished without authorization.

>> PHOTOS: Troy property owner starts demo without city approval

Judge Stacy Wall ruled, in a hearing that lasted six minutes, that the property owners are “restrained from demolishing, razing or otherwise removing any part” of the structure at 112-118 West Main Street.

In an agreed preliminary injunction filed Tuesday afternoon, the property owners have been ordered to conduct several repairs on the building. Those repairs include putting temporary tarps on any “open air roof exposure on the property” and reinstalling three windows that were removed.

Both sides are working on an agreement on the work it will take to get the sidewalk and street in front of the building reopened, as well as how much it will cost the building owner to get that work done. They set a deadline of next Wednesday to get this taken care of.

>> PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Troy seeking to permanently prevent demolition of historic Tavern Building

Both sides declined an on-camera comment, but the business owner’s lawyer sent News Center 7′s John Bedell as statement that said, in part, that “Public safety is as much a concern now as it was at the time the March 27 order was issued. Public safety should be the primary concern of the City and County. The only safe alternative for this building is demolition.”

As News Center 7 previously reported, the city said the owner started tearing the building down one morning in late March without permission.

Julie McMiller, the secretary of a nonprofit called the Troy Historical Preservation Alliance (THPA), previously told our team that the building holds historical significance.

“It has a very high historic significance. It was our third courthouse for the county and it has huge significance for the black community,” McMiller said.

THPA claimed one of the three interconnected buildings helped liberated slaves get paperwork documenting them as free individuals.

The court injection hearing to address the City of Troy and Miami County mitigation and property maintenance orders against the owner of the Oddfellows/Tavern Building was canceled for Wednesday, according to a media release.

Troy Mayor Robin Oda said in a statement:

“The situation changed significantly after our structural engineer confirmed that the building is in better condition than originally thought. After reviewing his analysis, Miami County rescinded their mitigation order, which took away the property owner’s only excuse for illegally attempting to demolish the building. We look forward to getting our West Main Street project back on track.”

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