An owner of the two-story brick building on West Market Street says a partial demolition is currently underway after a January 25 roof collapse.
“It would’ve happened one way or another,” owner Josh Rogers says. He and his partners had plans to renovate the 206 W Market St. building for their proposed private club, called Common House. He doesn’t think the roof collapse will significantly interfere with the club’s construction because it was previously ahead of schedule.
“It accelerated our production schedule,” he says, though he hasn’t made any permanent plans for after the demolition.
The building’s roof also collapsed in 2010 when snow cracked one of the trusses supporting the rafters, according to the city’s building code official, Tom Elliott.
While Rogers says he was aware of the initial collapse, the back right corner truss that failed this time was not the one repaired six years ago. He and his partners are paying for the selective demolition, he says, which will require removing loose bricks and wood from the roof and second floor of the building.
According to the Neighborhood Development Services website, specific design criteria for Charlottesville requires buildings to be designed to withstand temperatures of 16 degrees with a ground snow load of 25 inches per square foot. According to principal planner Brian Haluska, that doesn’t translate exactly to number of inches of snowfall.
Rogers says the demolition could take between two and three days and the strip of West Market between Old Preston and 2nd Street NW is projected to stay closed during that time. City inspectors want to be sure engineers have confirmed that falling debris will not be a threat, he says.
Even though the damage is on the backside of the building, city spokesperson Miriam Dickler says, “We want to know the structure is stable and sound before the road opens,” adding that it could stay closed until Saturday.