The Knoxville City Council has approved acquiring both 110 and 108 East Robinson in order to have both properties demolished. The property at 110 East Robinson was partially destroyed by fire in March. The city will have that signed over for free, contingent on the current property owner paying delinquent and pro-rated property taxes totaling around $3000. The Council also approved purchasing 108 East Robinson for $5000 Monday night, contingent on the property’s title being clean.
The low bid to demolish those properties came from Savage Dirt Works, totaling $27,500. City Manager Harold Stewart says the approval of that bid is contingent on the background work they do to ensure they are a responsible bidder. Stewart says that they’ll first have to test for asbestos and have that removed before demolition can be completed. He hopes the property will be down by the end of June.
Stewart adds that they haven’t had discussions as to what to do with those properties following their demolition. He says that the focus right now is just to make sure they are demolished since they’re considered dangerous properties. Stewart notes the demolition specifications do state that the ground must be seeded after demolition is completed, so it won’t be just two vacant dirt lots.