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On Monday night, a decaying building could no longer hold itself up. Neighbors were startled.

“Around eleven fifteen, the building came crashing down,” Verna Jackson said.

Jackson’s fence and boat were hit with bricks during the collapse. Her boat was nearly completely covered in bricks. She is hoping the city and her insurance company will be able to work out a deal to pay for the damage, but she feels the chances of that are slim.

“I have been complaining about the structure of this building for fifteen years,” Jackson said. “I never got any results from the city.”

“I’ve filed a petition with the city myself. I’ve taken pictures of it. Up until last night, I suppose, nothing had happened,” neighbor Fred Newman said.

The clean up is expected to cost the city around $300,000. The rubble consists of hazardous materials such as used tires and asbestos. Underground, there are large gas tanks that will have to be removed.

The city built a fence around the property to keep people away.

Now, the city is in the beginning stages of trying to make the best of this mess.

“If we can pursue an owner we will try to raze this structure and clean up all the blight, and turn this into a success story,” Michael Weding, Building Director for Anderson, said.

No specific plans are in store for what is to come of the rubble. City workers are now focused on the clean-up process.