Some Brooksville businesses have been forced to shut their doors, after a neighboring building collapsed over the weekend.
A multi-story building along Miami Street, which has been falling further into disrepair for several years, had a major partial collapse, officials said.
“There was a partial collapse to the back of the building. There have been many steps taken since to protect the people affected by this,” said Brooksville Mayor Craig Hester. “We will be talking more about the next steps this week.”
Yellow caution tape warns pedestrians of the danger.
Businesses nearby, including Carota's Pizza, have been forced to temporarily close.
“We are sorry to announce that the Carota’s Pizza Brooksville location will be closed until further notice. Unfortunately the closure is out of our control. We are not certain when the situation with the attached building will be rectified.” was posted on the restaurant's Facebook page; Carota's location in Augusta remains open.
"This is devastating to us and other businesses," said Debbie St. Clair, Carota's owner. "I hate being closed. We have been trying to shift around employees, but I may lose some employees because they need the work."
In years past, the collapsed building, now owned by the Nancy Lunsford estate, was a five and dime store, catering to the needs of Brooksville residents.
Now it is a boarded up eyesore with most of the rear portion and part of the roof collapsed.
An interior staircase dangles in mid-air with a pile of rubble and bricks strewn across the back yard of the property from the collapse.
The problem taking it down, officials said, is that the building is a style with common walls with neighboring buildings housing businesses and apartments.
It also towers over Carota's which is built as a single story structure, between Lunsford's building and another building.
It is a problem for many folks and we are not sure how it is going to play out,” Hester said.
Insurance companies are also trying to sort out who is responsible, but the undamaged buildings forced to be closed are in a unique position, St. Clair said.
"We have no damage, and my insurance is not going to cover another building damaging the property if that happens," she said.
The late owner of the collapsed building died in 2008 and since then little to nothing has been done to improve the condition of the building, officials said.
“Since she died the property has really been in limbo,” said Bracken County Judge-Executive Earl Bush.
According to records, Lunsford was a widow with no children, when she died.
The property is listed with the Bracken County PVA office as worth $1,000 and built before 1950.
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