ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — There's an empty space where the 207-year-old Fornell House used to be.
For Metalartz owner Linda Lacerva, whose business is across the street, it's been an adjustment.
"We look out the window at it every day and it was such a great structure and to have it be gone, it's kind of hard to believe it's not here," said Lacerva.
On Sept. 25, something went terribly wrong, causing it to collapse during a project meant to reinforce its foundation.
Crews had no choice but to demolish it because of safety concerns. City Manager John Regan requested a review of what happened.
"To make sure that all of our activities are appropriate and they were," said Regan.
The 31-page-review, conducted by Assistant City Manager Tim Burchfield, found that building owner Len Weeks, who is a former St. Augustine mayor and veteran contractor, did not obtain an archaeology permit and a building permit wasn't obtained until after construction of the trenches around the building had already started.
Weeks said he was on a time crunch to keep up with the city's construction on Spanish and Hypolita street and that he already had the city archaeologist come out to the site prior to workers starting the trenches.
The city review did admit the timing of the foundation project had nothing to do with the collapse of the structure. Instead the report states "the demise of the building rests with the method of how the work was done".
"The one thing that we do know is that it was a construction accident. I don't in any way think that there was any purpose behind it and Mr. Weeks is extremely sorry for what happened," said Regan.
While no one is pointing fingers, the whole incident could set off changes to how permits for construction on historical buildings are issued.
Regan said it will be brought up at the next city commission meeting.
Lacerva agrees it needs to be looked into.
"I think they should look at any historic building and anything that can be done to preserve them should be done to preserve them," said Lacerva.
According to the report, the city did question Weeks about the construction method he was using but the issue wasn't pressed because of Weeks' 30-plus years of construction experience.
WJAX
