City Council votes to demolish collapsing structure

Cambridge City Council has decided the fate of the building on Race Street that has seen two partial collapses in the last week.  They decided to side with public safety over history, as they voted unanimously to demolish the structure.

City Manager Sandra Tripps-Jones says while she understands the desire to preserve history, the building present too much of a hazard to continue to let it stand.

Brett Summers, managing partner with Novo Development Corporation, had one word for the decision, "disappointing."

"I find it hard to believe that you have to convince your local officials about the importance of historic preservation…  The reason people come here is because of the historic character of the town, and if you lose that one building at a time, pretty soon you don't have it."

Those associated with the property argued their case during a public comment period, urging for more time, assuring funding from the Department of Housing and Community Development was in place to stabilize the facade.

"It would probably take two weeks to get the exterior bracing in place, and then, at that point in time the street could be reopened and there would be no public safety issues," said Summers.

But that was not good enough for City officials, who say this property has been on their radar for years since a fire tore through the roof several years ago.

"The current owner, HCI, begged the city to wait while they tried to secure funds to restore it and they were not able to," said Tripps-Jones.

However the battle is not done, says Summers.  Novo Development, who owns the property, will now ask for legal advise moving forward to try to block the demolition.

"Ten years ago I got a restraining order against the City of Cambridge to keep them from demolishing 444, and 448 Race St.  I don't know, we'll see."

We are told the City of Cambridge will foot the bill, appropriating $250,000 toward the demolition.

The city will ask for help from the state for the cost, in the meantime the city will also put a lean on the property.

Unfortunately for residents, the 500 block of Race St. will continue to be closed off until the end of demolition, hopefully by the end of next week.