City of Pueblo declares Albany building a public safety threat two years after fire destroyed it
PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) -- The City of Pueblo has declared the Albany Building, which was destroyed in a fire back in August 2021, a public safety hazard.
The City will begin demolishing the burned-down building on January 22.
At the time the fire occurred, Pueblo Fire estimated the building, which was built 134 years ago, was worth more than $1 million, with upwards of $200,000 of possessions inside.
Friday was the very first time the public was alerted to the potential dangers of the building remaining in its current condition, despite remaining in that same condition for nearly two and a half years. The City of Pueblo says it needs to be demolished "to ensure the well-being of the community."
KRDO13 Investigates brought questions about the building's safety to the City of Pueblo's Director of Public Works, Andrew Hayes.
"The health risk to the public as it stands right now is that you've got an open-air asbestos spill site essentially," Hayes said. "We have already developed the plan for how they're going to handle all the materials. They will be wetted and bagged and taken to a landfill where they can be properly disposed of."
Hayes says the demolition project took two and half years to get approved because they had to get special approval from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to conduct an open-air demolition at the Albany Building site.
"It includes not only the way we handle the material and baggage and wet it to get the material off the site. But it also requires any time they're working on the site, there's air monitoring going on to ensure that we're not releasing fibers from the site," Hayes said.
The Director of Public Works alluded to the owner of the Albany Building, located on private property, not being receptive to it being condemned as uninhabitable after it went up in flames. Now, the city is working with the property owner to take full control of it.
"In this case, the costs are far more than the value of the property will be after the demolition is complete. And we're working with the property owner on an agreement to convey the property to the city," Hayes said.
The demolition is scheduled to commence during the week of January 22 and is expected to conclude within 45 days, barring any unforeseen circumstances.
The demolition project will affect traffic operations in the surrounding area. Parking and vehicle lane closures will be implemented on E. 7th Street, between Santa Fe Drive and Albany Street, as well as on Albany Street, between E. 7th Street and E. 8th Street.
Throughout the project, traffic will be routed one way (eastbound) on E. 7th Street and one way (northbound) on Albany Street. Traffic on Santa Fe Drive and E. 8th Street will not be affected, but drivers should remain alert for slow or stopped traffic in the area as drivers adjust to the temporary traffic patterns.
