The facade of a former restaurant in Pottsville, damaged in November by a vehicle, is crumbling and city code officials may file charges if the building's owner doesn't take action soon.
"We were planning to send a letter to the property owners this week and give them 21 days to respond. And if there was no response, we'd write out a citation," David Petravich, city building code officer, said Monday.
But a representative of the owner, Acquired Capital II, Stafford, Texas, contacted Petravich on Monday to tell him efforts are being made to repair the facade.
"We make an effort to be responsible and take care of all of our properties throughout the United States," Tiffany Jones, Acquired Capital's REO (Real Estate owned) manager, said Monday.
"We'll hold off sending a letter. I'm going to give her a little bit of time to see what happens," Petravich said.
The property is the former Phase II restaurant at 318-320 W. Market St., which was damaged in a vehicle accident at 2:59 p.m. Nov. 25. Police said Bruce Culbert, 49, of Pottsville, was driving east on West Market Street when he suffered a medical condition, lost control of his 1996 Ford Econoline van, swerved and struck the property.
In November 2012, Billie Ann and Paul D. Engle sold the property to Acquired Capital II for $1,138.94, according to the online Schuylkill Parcel Locator.
Since the accident in November, the hand railing at the former restaurant's entrance ramp has remained bent and damage to the stone facade continued to crumble.
"Recently, more of it came down," Donald J. Chescavage, city code enforcement officer, said Monday.
Last week, the pastor of the church in the row building next door to the former Phase II, Trinity United Church of Christ, 316 W. Market St., called the city to complain about the crumbling brick facade.
Pastor James Fidler could not be reached for comment Monday.
"We have a local management company that should have been handling getting quotes to repair the property," Jones said Monday.
Frances "Cookie" Gibbons, a real estate agent with Realty World, Schuylkill Haven, the realty company making efforts to sell the building, also said there was a locally based building manager.
When called for comment Monday, the current building manger, Jennifer Correll, Pottsville, said she started making calls to contractors for estimates. She said the building's owner will have a new property owner in place soon. She referred all other comments to the building's owner and said she did not want her name printed in the newspaper.
"We have somebody new set up in place to start May 1," Jones said.