Hopewell council unanimously votes to allow Colonial Corner to be demolished as part of a fire-training exercise
HOPEWELL — An eyesore no more.
City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to allow the dilapidated former Colonial Corner shopping center to be burned down as part of a controlled training exercise by the city fire department. Since details on the actual agreement between the city and the property owner still need to be worked out, no date has been set for the demolition, but city Building Official Todd Hawkes told council he does not expect it to be a long and drawn-out process.
“We’re ready to go right now,” Hawkes said.
Whenever it happens, the demolition will mean that Hopewell finally will be rid of what many felt was a blot on one of the city’s major gateways. They pointed to its proximity to the state Route 36 exit off Interstate 295, saying the old center was one of the first things visitors to Hopewell see.
Colonial Corner, once a major strip-shopping mall in Hopewell, has sat vacant and neglected for many years, and its steady decay has prompted numerous concerns over safety and the potential for criminal mischief. Previous efforts to revamp it, including the possibility of Walmart locating on the property, had failed.
Hawkes and city Planning Director Tevya Griffin told council that property owner Bharat Shah, who did not attend the meeting, has agreed to pay the city $60,000 to clean up the site after it is burned. Hawkes also said Shah has agreed to cover the cost of removing a small amount of asbestos from the building, but the actual price tag for that has not been determined. Assistant City Manager Charles Dane estimated that probably would be between $10,000 and $15,000.
A controlled burn was one of the suggestions made last month when council first deliberated the property’s fate. At that July meeting, Shah — who also owns several hotels in the Tri-City area, including one adjacent to Colonial Corner — said the cost to demolish Colonial Corner would be about $250,000, and he said then that the amount was “not in my budget.”
At that meeting, council gave Shah 30 days to work with the city on a plan to either salvage or demolish the center. He also was told to properly board up the property to keep people out of it; however, between that meeting and Tuesday night, there did not appear to be much difference in the appearance of the property.
Griffin said Shah agreed to allow the structure to be burned.
Fire officials say the controlled burn is a multi-step process that involves alerting their mutual-aid partners in other localities about the exercise. Additionally, the fire department has to set up precautions to protect the controlled burn from possibly spreading, such as running a “water curtain” around parts of the perimeter.
Dane said there will be plenty of notice given to citizens and the surrounding area about when the burning will take place.
“We will make a big deal out of it,” he told council.
In the interim, council asked City Attorney Sandra Robinson to draft a formal agreement between the city and Shah that includes all the logistics of the demolition and the exact costs of each step. Shah also has been told to put up a fence around the entire property to keep people out of the building.
Even if Shah does not agree to the contract, the city still can move ahead with the demotion and then place a lien on the property for which the owner would be responsible.
By Bill Atkinson
Assistant Editor
The Progress-Index
Bill Atkinson can be reached at 804-722-5167 or batkinson@progress-index.com. On Twitter: @BAtkinsonpi