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Boonville —
The city of Boonville's negotiations with Stein House owners to purchase the burnt-out property ended Monday when council members voted to withdraw an offer, according to closed session minutes.
Building inspector Steve Hage will now determine if the hollow property is safe, and then require the owners to perform maintenance, or if it poses a danger, in which case the city could demolish the property.
City Council members voted 5-3 to stop negotiating with Stein House owners Jeff Lueck and Tim Parish. Kathleen Conway, Henry Hurt and Mark Livingston opposed the measure.
The restaurant owners offered to sell the property to the city in April after an accidental fire started in the kitchen and destroyed the restaurant, banquet area and apartment and damaged an insurance office and senior center in a neighboring building. The building remains boarded-up and aside from the fire department's initial clean-up and repair, the property appears to have been left untouched for months.
The city offered Stein House owners $30,000 for the property, including the Sapphire Room banquet area, in April "to attempt to preserve the properties for future development opportunities," according to closed session minutes. City Administrator Irl Tessendorf said in September that a local business expressed interest in developing the property if the city assisted in brokering an agreement to avoid clean-up and legal costs.
The council instructed Tessendorf to continue negotiations but did not increase the earlier offer. Tessendorf told council members Monday there had been little change in clean-up of the property and negotiations in recent weeks.
"I'm not speaking for the council, but I think their patience and goodwill wore out," Tessendorf said.
Lueck said in April he did not carry insurance on the property.
"It would have meant $5,000 to $6,000 a year," Lueck said. The economy was not good, and the business was slow, he said.
The owners installed a new floor in the Sapphire Room and said they were interested in re-opening the space as a bistro. Lueck said at the time he was considering proposals to rent the space but the property was not for sale.
In July, Lueck said he was closing Simple Pleasures, an antique store he owned on Main Street.
"People in Boonville don't want that style of stuff," said Lueck. "And a lot of cash was tied up there."
The city of Boonville's negotiations with Stein House owners to purchase the burnt-out property ended Monday when council members voted to withdraw an offer, according to closed session minutes.
Building inspector Steve Hage will now determine if the hollow property is safe, and then require the owners to perform maintenance, or if it poses a danger, in which case the city could demolish the property.
City Council members voted 5-3 to stop negotiating with Stein House owners Jeff Lueck and Tim Parish. Kathleen Conway, Henry Hurt and Mark Livingston opposed the measure.
The restaurant owners offered to sell the property to the city in April after an accidental fire started in the kitchen and destroyed the restaurant, banquet area and apartment and damaged an insurance office and senior center in a neighboring building. The building remains boarded-up and aside from the fire department's initial clean-up and repair, the property appears to have been left untouched for months.
The city offered Stein House owners $30,000 for the property, including the Sapphire Room banquet area, in April "to attempt to preserve the properties for future development opportunities," according to closed session minutes. City Administrator Irl Tessendorf said in September that a local business expressed interest in developing the property if the city assisted in brokering an agreement to avoid clean-up and legal costs.
The council instructed Tessendorf to continue negotiations but did not increase the earlier offer. Tessendorf told council members Monday there had been little change in clean-up of the property and negotiations in recent weeks.
"I'm not speaking for the council, but I think their patience and goodwill wore out," Tessendorf said.
Lueck said in April he did not carry insurance on the property.
"It would have meant $5,000 to $6,000 a year," Lueck said. The economy was not good, and the business was slow, he said.
The owners installed a new floor in the Sapphire Room and said they were interested in re-opening the space as a bistro. Lueck said at the time he was considering proposals to rent the space but the property was not for sale.
In July, Lueck said he was closing Simple Pleasures, an antique store he owned on Main Street.
"People in Boonville don't want that style of stuff," said Lueck. "And a lot of cash was tied up there."
