City looks to help owners move forward after fire

The City of Pittsburg and Texas State Main Street Program are hard at work to help the owners of two historic downtown buildings move forward after fire destroyed both buildings early last week.
Even with the holiday last Monday, the city was already hard at work making plans and arranging meetings that will help the building owners as the cleanup and rebuilding proccess begins.
Late last week, City Manager Clint Hardeman, Mainstreet Manager Jenny Rowan and Texas Main Street Program State Coordinator Debra Drescher met with the building owners to discuss how to move forward.
“Because we are a part of the Texas Main Street Organization, we are eligible to apply for the Emergency Intervention Grant through the National Trust of Historic Preservation.  That grant  will allow us to retain the services of an historic structural engineer,” Mr. Hardeman said. “That person would come in and assess the damage to the burned buildings and the two adjacent properties from a structural integrity standpoint. We hope to have that person here by this week and then there will be a report prepared for the property owners.”
According to Mr. Hardeman, the city has already applied for the grand and the engineer should be in Pittsburg this week.
“These are structural engineers that deal with a lot of historic properties.  They are very well versed in the unique nature of historic buildings. They should be a great benefit for Pittsburg as it looks to move forward,” Mrs. Drescher said.
According to Mr. Hardeman, Pittsburg has already reached out to other Texas cities that have had historic buildings catch fire, such as Corsicana, Paris, Tyler, Waxahachie and Mount Vernon.
 

For more information, see our E-edition at http://www.etypeservices.com/SWF/LocalUser/Atlanta1//Magazine46917/Full/...