McComb officials have the greenlight to tear down a building on the verge of collapse that has led to the closure of part of a well-traveled street, but there’s no immediate tmieline on when that will happen.
Zoning Director Henry Green said the owner of the building has given the city permission tear down the building on the corner of Pearl River Avenue and South Locust Street and city board attorney Marcus Williams is finalizing the details before the demolition begins.
“The property is privately owned,” Green said. “We’re working with the city attorney closely to make sure we dot all our i’s and cross all our t’s because the property owner actually did consent for the city to move forward on it.”
The city closed a block of South Locust Street at the intersection of Pearl River Avenue last weekend after the building’s roof collapsed and the eastern wall, which faces Locust Street, started leaning outward.
“The east wall is about to fall into the street,” Green said.
City officials said the building became unstable during high winds Friday or Saturday.
“It has to come down,” Green said. “It can’t be repaired.”
While city officials believe weather worsened the conditions of the property, Green said there were issues beforehand.
“We just closed the street. The building has been in rough shape for a while.”
The closure brings a disruption to traffic in east McComb. Locust Street is a busy traffic artery, particularly among trucks going to and from the Sanderson Farms processing plant east of the city.
In the meantime, Green said detours are in place.
“We are taking immediate action about trying to get the issue resolved,” Green said.
