No injuries as portion of old building collapses
May 27—MONROEVILLE — A portion of the old Faulhaber bicycle seat factory building in Monroeville collapsed Thursday night.
Nobody was in the building or injured. The building, 21 N. Hamilton St., is now home to the Old School Warehouse, but owner Jim Schaffer said that part of the building that collapsed was not being used.
In fact, he was planning to tear that part of the building down.
He said Friday morning he was going to have an engineer look at the building before he decides what to do next. He said the part of the building that houses Old School Warehouse is in good structural shape.
The building collapsed at about 9 p.m. Thursday, Monroeville Village Administrator Tom Gray said.
"The fire protection line (sprinkle system) broke and released hundreds of gallons of water on the ground," Gray said. "No injuries were reported and an assessment will be made to determine how to remove the rest of this failed structure."
Gray said North Hamilton Street is closed in both directions between Milan Avenue/River Road and North Broad Street.
"My plan was to take this part down," Schaffer said. "It's empty. I noticed a bulge in it and one of my friends, a demo guy ... I have talked to him previously about talking it down. I was actually on the phone with him yesterday about it.
"My plan was to take all of this (back part of the building) down. I have to wait until the engineer comes to see what he says."
The business is good at the Old School Warehouse, Schaffer said.
"I've been really, really busy," he said. "I was actually planning to shut down in a couple of weeks when I got my orders out and start trying to clear it out of all the rubbish so I could start taking it down. This makes it twice as hard."
Firefighters from the Huron River Joint Fire District were on the scene and assistant fire chief Doug Long his crew stayed until the area was secured.
The store offers a variety of antiques, handcrafted furniture, collectibles, interior decor and various restaurant, business and industrial surplus items.
In 2012, siblings Jim, Chuck and Dan Schaffer and their families turned the abandoned 75,000-square foot factory into the store.
The store also draws attention during Christmas season, as it annually turns into a Santa's workshop with silhouette cutouts of elves making toys at night.
Reflector Sports Editor Mark Hazelwood contributed to this story.
