The Board of Public Works and Safety on Friday afternoon accepted a bid of $89,000 from Ridenour Construction for the demolition and cleanup of the buildings and area on West Washington Street in downtown Frankfort where two buildings were destroyed by a fire on January 22.
“We are going to rebuild,” said Mayor Chris McBarnes. “We are going to come back stronger than ever. I want to thank the owners of 50 to 54 West Washington Street for being so gracious and working with the city. Demolition on those properties will begin next week. As soon as that’s done and the safety of the public is ensured, we will open up the stretch between Columbia and Main Street of West Washington Street.”
McBarnes added this has been a collaborative effort between Frankfort City Councilman Joe Palmer and attorneys Jay Moore and Les Bergum.
“They have been working incredibly hard on this for the betterment of the city,” said McBarnes. “Thank you to all of our citizens for being patient with us. This will be a good end result to a very horrible situation. We will come back stronger.”
Ever since the fire, the issue of safety has been paramount because of the instability of the remaining parts of the two buildings that burned.That was the reason for the closure of Washington Street between Columbia and Main.
“It’s been a very difficult process,” said McBarnes. “When we saw some of the most historic buildings in our downtown burning earlier this yer, it was a punch in the gut.”