Albany building demolished after roof collapse

An emergency demolition is underway after a vacant building’s roof collapsed in downtown Albany, New York, a report by WNYT says. The demolition will cost the Albany Convention Center Authority, the building’s owner, about $675,000.

An engineer declared the building unsafe after someone reported the roof collapse Aug. 2 on the city’s See Click Fix website. Albany Fire officials responded at around 9 a.m. Aug. 2.

The building was constructed in the 1840s and has been vacant for 12 years, the report says.  Since the building is on the National Register of Historic Places, the proposal to demolish would normally go through a public hearing. Because the building became a safety concern, there was no public hearing.

Former New York State Assemblyman Jack McEneny says in the report the building wasn’t comprised of much other than big opens spaces on the different floors, and that the recent rain and last winter’s weather has caused the roof to collapse.

An Albany Convention Center Authority official says in the report the property has been surveyed for residential and commercial use. The authority is looking to have Capital Albany Corp., an organization that facilitates transformational development projects in Albany, to take over property ownership.