CORPUS CHRISTI, Tx — People who live on McArdle near Kostoryz have been complaining about a vacant building for years, and yesterday, the walls came tumbling down.
This old nursing home on the 3100 block of McArdle shut down years ago.
A spokesperson for development services tells us the building had become an "attractive nuisance." Not because of its looks but because it was attracting crime and the homeless.
City officials say the final straw was a recent fire inside the abandoned nursing home.
"As a result, our department did an assessment. Our building official assessed the building and determined that this was a dangerous structure and, due to that fire, the sudden act of that fire we needed to demolish this structure so it would no longer be a danger to public health and safety," said Tracy Cantu, Assistant Director with Development Services Code Compliance.
The city had been working with the owner to bring the building into compliance.
Because of the fire, neighboring properties and buildings were considered at risk, so an emergency demolition was carried out.
The owner will be billed for the $150,000 to demolish the old nursing home.
