BUTTE — The Blue Range is falling apart at the seams. Debris is falling from the brick parapet and the second floor is separating from the wall that is seen jutting out into the sidewalk.
Not wanting to appear on camera, Ed Staacks did say that the building was doomed since it was built.
The building consists of three separate areas: The Blue Range, Auto repair, and warehouse.
The engineering report laid out the failing structural integrity, moving foundation, and deterioration of walls as the reason for classifying it as a dangerous building.
According to Staacks, the Blue Range would have to be torn down and rebuilt which would cost between one to two million dollars.
Staacks said that the auto repair and warehouse sections would be saved.
The two side walls and back wall of the Blue range will be saved because those walls connect to the auto repair and warehouse.
The demolition of the Blue Range has taught the council of commissioners that there need to be stricter regulations in place when dealing with historical buildings.
"We need to determine what are the most significant buildings within our community and start prioritizing those and identifying them now so that they don’t get to this situation where an owner may have to tear it down," said Chief Executive J.P. Gallagher.
As for the Blue Range, when the owner goes forward with the demolishing, Chief Executive Gallagher said that the history of the building and the district will be recognized through a plaque or an interactive phone app on the site where it stood.
"Do we need to recognize it, absolutely, do we need to understand that things happened in our history that were pretty jaded, we know those things happened in our history here. I think it’s important that we do recognize somehow what was there," said Gallagher.
