Update: Demolition crews are taking apart the old, boarded-up home at 1753 NW 56th St., and many neighbors are happy to see it go.
The “meth house,” as some call it, has been a longtime hangout for vagrants. The abandoned building was recently acquired by the Compass Center. It has plans to rebuild on the site, but not until the economy turns around.
Back in March, we wrote about the dilemma the non-profit was facing after it purchased the boarded-up building. “To us it’s a threat to life, so we have petitioned the city to take it down,” Rick Friedhoff, director of the Compass Center told the Ballard Distric Council in March. “But it’s very difficult to take down a building like this, because the city wants you to have a Master Use Permit for what’s going to go up next.” But now it appears the Compass Center was successful in its petition to demolish the building. “The city was really helpful,” Friedhoff told us this morning. The city walked through and determined that “it would cost more to bring the building up to code, more than half of the fair market value, and said that we could tear it down.”
The building has long been the source of complaints by nearby businesses, and the Sip & Ship is celebrating the event by offering $2 tall “Demolition Lattes” all day today. Here’s some video of the demolition:
As you look into the attic (above) you can see a sheet. There were mattresses and other blankets and such that came down with the demolition.
It took a little more than three hours to tear the main house down.
There is still a garage on the property that will come down, as well as all the trees on the lot. It will take a few days for the crew to haul the pile away.
One part of the building was salvaged. Dan Molnes or Squarehead Home Repair is taking the three solid fir pillars from the front porch. He plans to build his front porch around these pieces.