History topples

A piece of Mountain View history has been demolished. What was once one of the tallest buildings on First Street is now a pile of rubble at the corner of First and Elm.

 

The old Padgett Hardware building, owned by Jeremy Burks, has been in disrepair for over a decade. On October 31, the neighboring building started to show the side effects of the disrepair when their wall and ceiling were being compromised due to the building next door. The Mountain View Board of Aldermen closed off streets in an effort to protect the public from the unknown. As City Operations Manager Eddie Owens stated, it’s not a matter of if the building will collapse, it’s a matter of time.

 

On Thursday, Nov. 21, Triple B Construction arrived on Elm Street and began the deconstruction of the Padgett Hardware building. According to Owens, Adam Brown with that company called him on Wednesday, Nov. 20, letting him know that Burks had approached him about tearing down the building. It took only two days to bring down the building and effectively pile the rubble onto the lot where the building once stood.

“We had a few city employees on site to make sure that people stayed out of the work zone and to ensure nothing happened to neighboring buildings,” said Owens, explaining the city’s part in the cleanup efforts. “There has been talks from neighboring businesses on working to make the lot/rubble presentable.”

 

Shortly after the building was toppled and cleaned up, the streets were back open to traffic.