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CentrePointe demolition continues

APPEAL TO PLANNING COMMISSION MAY BE MEANINGLESS

By Cara Anthony

canthony@herald-leader.com
Portions of previous façades were exposed during the demolition Wednesday evening. A preservation group is fighting to save some of the buildings. Photo by David Stephenson | Staff
David Stephenson | Staff
Portions of previous façades were exposed during the demolition Wednesday evening. A preservation group is fighting to save some of the buildings. Photo by David Stephenson | Staff
Spectators gathered at the Courthouse Plaza as the old Rite Aid building was torn down Wednesday. The work began at about 6:30 p.m. and caused temporary downtown traffic lane closures. The building was rubble a few hours later. Photo by David Stephenson | Staff Mary Beth Navmann and Kevin Compton, left, and Brent Roach and Elizabeth Browning watched members of the Diversified Demolition crew tear down the old Rite Aid building at the corner of South Limestone and Main Street to make way for the proposed CentrePointe development. Photo by David Stephenson | Staff Comments

Developers of the controversial CentrePointe hotel project in downtown Lexington continued demolition of the block on Wednesday, one day after a circuit judge declined to halt the destruction despite the pleas of preservationists.

Dozens of spectators gathered around 6:30 p.m. as crews began tearing down the three-story building that was once a Rite Aid pharmacy on the corner of Main and Limestone streets.

John Conley, the contractor in charge of the demolition, said all the buildings will be razed in the near future but he wouldn't offer a date.

Those fighting the development must wait until a tentative Sept. 18 hearing before the Planning Commission after Circuit Judge Pamela Goodwine declined their request for a temporary injunction. The group was fighting to save buildings inside the Courthouse Area Design Review Zone, including the Rite Aid building. The city's Design Review Board had approved the demolition, but a city ordinance allows an appeal to the Planning Commission.

However, the work of the construction crews may render the appeal meaningless.

Conley said Premier Parking and Security's parking lot next door to the Rite Aid building will no longer be in use after July 31. Crews will clear the parking lot in preparation for construction.

His crews' work on Wednesday evening caused temporary downtown lane closures nearby. Earlier in the day, Lexington firefighters used the building for training exercises.

Among those watching the demolition was Garry Lee Good, 55, who said he took a bus from Orlando to watch the finale for a building where he once hung out with friends in the 1960s and '70s.

”They are taking a part of me because I grew up here,“ Good said. ”I am in tears.“

Staff writer Beverly Fortune contributed to this report. Reach Cara Anthony at (859) 231-3211.

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