Part of Hancock's Main Street closed, starting Friday, so collapsed building can be razed

A section of Hancock's Main Street will be closed, starting Friday, through the weekend so crews can demolish a building that was recently discovered to have partially collapsed inside, Town Manager Michael Faith said Thursday.

Main Street will be closed for a short section, from Fulton Street east to Church Street, Faith said on Thursday. Only local traffic will be allowed between Church Street and Taney Street, which is a one-way street south of Main Street, for parking.

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A parking lot that hikers and others use off of Taney Street will still be accessible, Faith said.

The 55 W. Main St. building being demolished sits on a hill that backs up to the Western Maryland Rail Trail, overseen by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.

Therefore, the rail trail also will be closed from Taney Street west to Williams Street. But Faith said there is an easy detour for that section. Rail trail users can go through the parking lot to get back on the trail.

The Chesapeake & Ohio National Historical Park's towpath, farther south on the other side of Canal Street, will not be disrupted by the project, Faith said.

People also will be able to access businesses in the area, but can't park in the immediate closure area.

Faith said he did not know if the demolition work would continue into Monday.

Why does the building need to be demolished?

The partially collapsed floors inside 55 W. Main St. were discovered Monday morning when Faith entered the building after noticing Saturday evening that there was some exterior damage. Upon seeing the collapsed floors, Faith said he called Washington County officials.

Search and rescue teams from Washington and Montgomery counties, including search dogs, checked out the inside of the building and found no evidence of anyone inside, Washington County Emergency Services Director R. David Hays has said.

The teams could not physically search the entire building because of safety concerns. But between using the dogs, thermal imaging and yelling out, as well as searching as much as they could physically, they found no evidence of anyone inside, Hays said.

Washington County's code official, Greg Cartrette, was on scene Monday. He said then that he was condemning the building and expected it would need to be demolished.

Faith said the county issued a demolition order by Tuesday morning to the property owner, Kenneth Apple.

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Faith said he shared a copy of the demolition order with Apple. After town officials consulted with the town attorney, the town gave Apple seven days to start demolition work.

Apple has been cooperative about getting the building demolished, Faith said.

Apple, via phone, said Thursday that he had no comment.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Partially collapsed Hancock building to be razed starting Friday