BEAUMONT, Texas — The fate of the Gilbert Building was decided Tuesday night, as Beaumont City Council met to consider an ordinance to demolish the historic structure.
Council members voted 4-2 to not demolish the Gilbert Building and give owner Tom Flanagan more time to make a decision on what to do with the building.
"I feel good because it's a historical treasure that would be a crime to tear down," said Flanagan.
However, council members say that this decision does come with conditions for Flanagan.
"To know for a fact if the building is sound and it can be saved. We're going to have a rough estimate on if he's going to look to tear his own building down or he's going to look to restore it by the beginning of November," said A.J. Turner.
Flanagan says that a portion of the building will be demolished.
"We'll be starting in about 30 days to do the demolition, selected demolition of only the damaged portion and then we'll begin the shoring up and reinforcement," Flanagan said.
The council says by that time a decision will also be made to open up sidewalks as well as Pearl and Bowie Street's, which should help frustrated business owners and commuters.
"We're looking into an insurance policy that they would have in case something does happen," said Flanagan.
If the building can be saved, Flanagan will have until January 10 to bring the exterior walls, elevated flooring, and roof up to code.
"I don't think we'll have any problems moving forward with what they've said," said Flanagan.
The building was tagged as an imminent danger after it caught fire in June, and roads around it are still blocked off because the city fears it could collapse.
"A lot of the refineries exit through downtown, and now they're detoured. So we want to get our roads opened as soon as possible," said Mayor Roy West.
Council members gave building owner Tom Flanagan a 60-day deadline to decide whether he wants to demolish the structure or renovate it.
"I think when you vote to demolish something that's owned by somebody else, you have to be very cautious," said council member Albert "AJ" Turner.
If they they had voted yes to demolish the building, the bill will fall on tax payers. 12News was previously told that this could cost up to $1 million.
"The expenses that would go in the tax payers when you utilize their funds their hard work revenue to knock down a building. Then the whole process of getting the return from the money that we initially put up two knock down the building," said Turner.
Turner thinks that the councils vote could be swayed by an engineering report.
"I wouldn't support anything without a state license engineers approval," said Turner.
Mayor West says that their vote tonight will set a precedent for the future of other abandoned or damaged downtown buildings.
"Because we don't want kids getting in them, we don't want people getting hurt, we don't want unnecessary fires. All of those kinds of things. So as a city, it's just our responsibility to take care of keeping people safe and we're going to continue to do that," Mayor West said.
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This is a developing story. We will update with more if and when we receive more confirmed information.
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