Local

Historic St. Augustine building starting to crumble

A historic building in St. Augustine is at-risk of collapsing, according to city officials.

It prompted officials to close Aviles Street, between King and Cadiz Street as crews evaluate the building’s safety.

Right now, only pedestrians can access the narrow street.

Businesses along the street said they are taking a hit.

“Yesterday was really slow during the day, unfortunately,” Clara Terkeurst who works at Peace Pie directly across from the building, said.

Some businesses put out signs to let tourists know they were still open.

“Our businesses depend on foot traffic in here,” Barbara Clements said.

Clements lives next door to the building and said the road closure has impacted her, too.

She said she depends on cabs to pick her up to go to the grocery store.

With her chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, she said she is forced to walk further to hail a taxi.

“Anybody that has COPD knows that heat brings on an attack,” Clements said. “If I’m lugging 30 pounds or 40 pounds of groceries down the street, how far am I going to get before I have an attack?”

The city of St. Augustine’s Planning and Building Department said it was notified Tuesday that the project team working on the rehabilitation of the commercial building at 9 Aviles St. had concerns regarding the building’s stability.

There are noticeable cracks on the façade.

The building, originally constructed in 1911, is currently unoccupied.

According to the property appraiser website, the building was purchased by Red Moon Properties LLC in December.

Action News Jax found that in April, the structure was on the Historic Architecture Review Board agenda to discuss renovations; however, it was withdrawn.

The St. Augustine Police Department told Action News Jax that the owner of the building applying for a demolition permit Thursday.

It’s unclear how long the road will be closed.