Officials try to evaluate condemned nightclub's structure, find owner

CELINA - Nothing short of abracadabra is going to make problems at the former Illusions Nite Club building disappear any time soon.

City service director Tom Hitchcock on Tuesday afternoon inspected the exterior of the property at 222 S. Main St., which city officials in March declared dangerous because the bricks above the canopy are buckling and could fall.

Though Hitchcock determined the building is structurally sound, he was unable to gain access to evaluate its interior, Celina Mayor Jeff Hazel told the newspaper this morning.

Hitchcock will prepare a cost estimate for the necessary repairs and serve it to the building's apparent owners. The process could take a least a month, Hazel said.

City council in early 2012 passed an ordinance allowing Hitchcock to act as building inspector and deem structures dangerous or unfit if ownership is known. He can then order repairs or demolition.

Repair or demolition costs could be assessed on property taxes, levied as a special tax or recovered by lawsuit, according to a city ordinance.

Hitchcock also will determine the cost to demolish the building, if city council decides to do so. Razing the building would be complicated because it shares walls on either side with Atelier Salon and Winner's Computer, Hazel said.

A council committee meeting likely will be called later this month or in early July, Hazel said.

Hazel said as long as the owners take steps to repair the building, no deadlines would be imposed. He would rather see the owners take care of the problem than use city funds to repair or demolish the building.

"Our goal is for the property owner to take responsibility for their own property. The taxpayer should not be the one to step in," he said.

Hazel also noted that a third party has shown interest in purchasing the building for a potential business. He did not elaborate.

With the aid of a bucket truck, Hitchcock found the building's structure and roof are in fair condition, Hazel said.

"The building is not in imminent danger of collapse," Hazel pointed out. "The bricks are just bowing out."

"From going up there, the roof looks pretty decent," city law director George Moore told the newspaper this morning.

Hazel said city officials had hoped the warm weather would draw the bricks back into the building. That didn't happen.

In the meantime, the sidewalk and parking spaces will remain barricaded in front of the former night club to protect passersby from the specter of falling bricks.

"Could it fall? Yeah, in the right conditions, it could certainly fall," Hazel said about the bricks.

Moore is still uncertain who owns the building - David and Georgia Woodward or JPMorgan Chase Bank of Westerville.

"I am going to say that after talking to the bankruptcy attorneys and the bank, the Woodwards own the property and we will be filing a lien on the property to see if we can't recoup whatever money we do spend on it," Moore told the newspaper last week.

When the Woodwards' bankruptcy case closed March 31, Moore believes, no one wanted the building, so ownership reverted to the Woodwards.

But David Woodward recently told The Daily Standard he doesn't own the property. The bank took possession of the property in 2012 under a foreclosure action filed in Mercer County Common Pleas Court, he said.