In the second week of February, the demolition of several buildings along the south side of Bloomington’s West 1st Street got started.
By Monday (Feb. 19) the building at 607 W. 1st Street had been mostly reduced to a pile of rubble.
The point of the demolition is to create a clean slate for developers who want to respond to a public offering of the property as part of the planned new Hopewell neighborhood. It’s part of the area where IU Health’s hospital previously stood.
In about 16 weeks, which works out to roughly the end of May, the work to raze the buildings is expected to be complete.
But the timing for the project completion could depend in part on whether two of the buildings on the south side of 1st Street are actually demolished.
Already known was the possibility that the California-style bungalow at 615 W. 1st Street could escape demolition—either through historic protection, or through a move to a different location. Bloomington’s historic preservation commission (HPC) is supposed to get an update on the status of the building at its Thursday (Feb. 22) meeting.
At its Jan. 25 meeting, the HPC voted to recommend that Anna Killion-Hanson, who is interim director of the HAND (housing and neighborhood development) department, extend by 30 days the demolition delay under which the property had been put. Killion-Hanson did extend the demolition delay by 30 days, which bought the house a little more time.
A different building—which was initially considered for demolition, but did not make the final list—might eventually be demolished.
Based on conversation between city of Bloomington staff and redevelopment commission (RDC) members at Monday’s RDC meeting, the building at 714 Rogers—the southwest corner of Rogers and 1st streets—could wind up getting razed. But that’s not certain.
