By Thia James

PHOTOS/VIDEO: Minto Apartments demolition day is ‘a good day’

Aug 18, 2014 | 12:20 PM

The thick morning fog had lifted by the time a bulldozer began to raze the Minto Apartments early Monday morning. 

The distinctive crunch of metal digging into concrete resounded through the downtown neighbourhood where only half of the building known as the “Snake Pit” now stands. The demolition drew a few onlookers out to watch the bricks and mortar fall to the mounting pile of rubble on the ground.

The owner of a nearby business stood in a doorway watching. He declined to comment, other than to call this a good day for Prince Albert.

Michelle Nemish, who works at a nearby business, was on hand taking photos with her cellphone, smiling.

“So very excited,” she said of how she felt, as the claw of the bulldozer could be heard scraping against the building in the background. “It’s taken a long time, and we’re just very happy that it’s finally down.”

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It’s important to see the building be torn down for the neighbourhood and local businesses in the downtown area, she said.

“It brought a lot of riff-raff, through the local businesses. So it’s been very good for the city that it’s down,” she said.

The building, long at the subject of a protracted legal battle since its closure 11 years ago, was slated for demolition by the city very recently.

The City of Prince Albert had seized ownership of the property in late 2012, citing the former owner’s failure to pay property taxes. City manager Jim Toye, who was also watching a Dmyterko Enterprises crew demolish the Minto Apartments, said council expressed that they felt it was a priority to get this building down.

“So we just picked a date and we had a RFP [request for proposals] regarding who’s going to bring it down. A local company was successful, so that’s why it’s coming down today,” Toye said.

The City had issued a news release warning of a road closure on Ninth Street East between Central Avenue to First Avenue East, due to demolition work at 51 Ninth Street East.

Toye said the City believes this was due diligence enough. “It was important to council that it be done in a timely way… A decision was made and administration carried out [the] instruction that was adopted by city council.”

Toye said the building could not be “redone” at all.

“There was a lot of mold in it. A lot of the interior heating and plumbing was not working at all, the boilers all had to be replaced… It wouldn’t have been a healthy place for anyone.”

The building’s demolition has a price tag of about $50,000. He’s hoping that, with the building being demolished, it puts an end to the City’s legal battles with the former owner over the building, Larry Markwart, and the court costs. But, he said the next step is to sue the owner.

The mayor called this an opportunity for the City. Because it owns the property that the Minto Apartments stood on, back alley and parking lot, the City plans to divide the half used parking lot and sell the parcel for residential development.

He stood along the sidelines of the demolition site as work began, wearing a hard hat and watching the bulldozer in action. Dionne called it a happy day for himself and seniors in the area.

“It’s been 11 years in the works. So this is a great day to bring down the Snake Pit.”

Former owner Larry Markwart declined to comment on Monday.

tjames@panow.com

On Twitter: @thiajames