OGDEN, Utah — After months of back-and-forth between the developer and city, a controversial construction project is coming down in Ogden to try to make things right.
The building, planned to be an apartment with retail and food services, has remained unfinished for months. With plans to demolish it only recently have begun. For nearby business owners, the eye-sore would have better-served everyone were it completed instead.
“It kind of also breaks my heart seeing some of this hard work going into getting in this empty lot that’s been there forever,” said James Dayley, owner of Two-bit street café.
He has watched the construction of the building and was concerned with the height, how close a neighboring restaurant was, and the challenges with having enough parking.
“I really got concerned when I found out about the issues that they had with the building,” said Dayley. “It wasn’t just the fact that they weren’t going to be able paint it, fire proof it and put a shell around it, but all the interior structural problems and the fact that they put the top two floors on without even having proper struts and supports and beams underneath it was just scary.”
On March 29, Ogden City issued a stop work order saying, “all construction of this building be ceased immediately until an acceptable remedy of code violations are achieved and approved by the Ogden City chief building official.”
Months later on October 12, the city issued a ‘Notice of Dangerous Building and Order to Abate’ saying officials found numerous structural deficiencies throughout the building during their inspection on October 2.
“Well there were some construction deficiencies that they weren’t able to repair and address, and some fire retardant wood issues,” said Mike McBride, communications manager, Ogden city.
The building was called a “significant fire hazard” because of the kind of wood used. The notice said “was not constructed using fire retardant treated framing lumber as noted and required on the jurisdiction approved construction plans issued with the building permit.”
“Not in recent years we haven’t really had this type of issue – typically everything that we find, can be repaired,” said McBride. City officials said they have been doing what they can to keep the construction safe. “This is all due process in construction when we do inspections, these things are meant to be found if they are there.”
And will continue to be diligent in the future. “The inspection process is in place and it’s meant to catch these types of issues, so that’s exactly what we’ll do moving forward,” added McBride.
FOX 13 has been trying to get in contact with the developer, Summa Terra Ventures with multiple calls, emails, and checking out the office in Springville, but have not got a response so far. The city said the developer plans to rebuild the property.
Crews on-site could be working on demolition for the next couple of weeks.
