Owner to demolish collapsing High Street building

Barricades and roadwork on East High and Madison shut down the intersection to traffic in front of the law office building suffering a partial collapse.
Barricades and roadwork on East High and Madison shut down the intersection to traffic in front of the law office building suffering a partial collapse.

A building at 200 E. High St. will be demolished weeks after bricks fell from the building and caused a hole to open on its side.

Jefferson City building official Larry Burkhardt said Tuesday building owner Andrew Neidert planned to demolish the building. Neidert did not return a call seeking comment.

Bricks fell June 7 from the building, which houses law firms Berry Wilson LLC and Turnbull & Stark LLC, onto Madison Street. Nobody was injured at the time, but a large hole opened on the side of the building facing Madison Street. Crews later cordoned off the area but kept the 300 block of Madison Street open.

After Neidert Properties renovated the third floor of the building in 2013, building inspectors filed an incomplete report, according to the report obtained by the News Tribune. The report shows building inspectors approved the building's electrical and plumbing systems, but three other sections, including site inspection, are listed as pending.

Burkhardt said in mid-June that the building might have been inspected properly. Short staffing, though, may have led to the files being entered incorrectly, Burkhardt said at the time.

He said Tuesday the building is currently classified as dangerous because its walls have been compromised. The building likely could be saved, but it would be very expensive, Burhkardt said.

"It's like any renovation," he said. "Until you get into it and start taking things apart, you really don't know the full extent."