Peoples Bank building demolished after failed three-year preservation effort

The Peoples Bank came down Wednesday, more than three years after owners sought a demolition permit to raze its turquoise tile walls and zig-zag roof.

Crews finished demolishing the former bank at 343 South Broadway shortly after noon Wednesday. The bank’s demolition comes after an attempt to save and move the building was abandoned earlier this year.

The building was one of the few remaining mid-20th century commercial buildings left in Lexington, preservationists said. Left vacant since the 1990s, Langley Properties, its owners, announced in August 2014 the building would come down to make room for a proposed theater complex on the same block.

Online efforts to save the bank prompted a nonprofit preservation group to offer their help in moving the building, but that project was abandoned earlier this year after the contractor who was supposed to move the building missed several deadlines. Langley had agreed to donate the building to the Warwick Foundation if it could be moved and pledged $75,000 to help with the relocation effort.

The foundation announced last week that it was refunding private donations.

After the relocation project was aborted, Langley decided to move forward with demolishing the building to make room for a proposed 12-screen movie theater. The property where the bank building sat will be used for a new entry to a parking garage.

Krikorian Premiere Theatres, which proposed the theater complex at High Street and South Broadway in 2014, is moving forward with the project despite repeated delays, officials with Krikorian said in February.

Krikorian officials have not said when construction on the theater will begin.

Scott Davidson, president of Langley Properties, told the Herald-Leader last week that the bank would come down in the “very near future.”

This story was originally published September 13, 2017 at 1:54 PM with the headline "Peoples Bank building demolished after failed three-year preservation effort."