More than two months after the historic Gilbert Building burned, dozens of barricades blocking streets around the gutted downtown structure have been removed.
12News spoke with Beaumont Mayor Roy West and he says after this week’s city council meeting, the city directed its engineering department to bring Fittz & Shipman Inc. back in to meet with Alliance Engineering.
The city’s engineering department gave them more information about the barriers. Fittz & Shipman Inc. completed the initial report on the building.
After a meeting with city engineering and Alliance Engineering, they said the sidewalks would have to remain barricaded, but there was no need to have barricades around the road.
Mayor West says he was notified about the decision Friday morning.
According to Communications Director Tracy Kennick, the structural engineers, Fitz & Shipman and Alliance, align with their determination that roadways may be opened given the following conditions:
- 1. The razor fence stays in place barricading the sidewalks on all sides of the building.
- 2. If we are targeted by a high wind event, as defined by the National Weather Service, the streets should be temporarily closed until the event is over.
"The property owners engineer should survey the outside of the walls for loose brick or coping and remove any that appear loose enough to be dislodged by a pop up thunderstorm/minor wind event," said Kennick.
Recently some downtown business owners have complained about the barricades saying they're losing money and customers.
On Tuesday the Beaumont City Council gave the building's owner, Tom Flanagan, until November 1 to tear down parts of the interior.
Every business 12News visited either attended Tuesday's meeting or watched it online. They all say they want more transparency with the timeline of the barricades.
"I think it's just the inconvenience of the streets being closed," said Maryclaire Strassburger, the owner of Estella in downtown Beaumont.
Since the Gilbert Building fire in June barricades blocking off the streets have made it difficult for customers to get to the shop.
"Where do I park? How do I go? Can you even walk on the sidewalk? Is the sidewalk closed?" are some of the questions Strassburger says she hears.
Barricades removed near burned out Gilbert Building in downtown Beaumont
Next door to Estella's is Chuck's Sandwich Shop. They have been getting calls asking if they're open.
"They'll ask me 'well how do I get there?' So I'll tell them to come around Main Street, go into the main parking lot. Pull up and you'll find it," said Chuck's owner, Charles Lafayette.
Chuck's Sandwich Shop opened in the heart of downtown Beaumont inside of the Gilbert Building in 1989.
"A couple of businesses in there. Let's see there was a master finance company, and a bail bonds place, and actually a barbershop," Lafayette said.
14 years ago, Chuck's moved to a location across the street. Now with the barricades up, it's losing revenue.
"It's tearing our business down probably about 15%. You know and I don't want to see the building close. I don't because it really does have history to it," said Lafayette.
Business owners want to know if they'll have to shut down for demolition.
"Or if they were to tear it down would we have to be closed? There wasn't a conclusion on that, so we're still in a waiting game," Strassburger said.
They'll have to wait until November 1 to learn when sidewalks on Pearl Street and Bowie Street will re-open.
"So I'm hoping that they can get this thing situated, and get the streets opened up so everyone here can, you know, survive," Lafayette said.
If the Gilbert Building is salvageable, Flanagan will have until January 10 to bring parts of the building up to code. No matter the outcome, nearby business owners will have to continue to wait for a solution.