The buildings behind the former Sing-A-Long Bar and Grill building were demolished Thursday, Jan. 5.
Crews got to work in the demolition early Thursday morning, reducing travel along Hwy. 1 to a single lane at times during the process.
The demolition was approved in an agreement with the new owners of the building and Mount Vernon City Council November 2022. The city provided $50,000 from tax increment funds to the new owners Jude Smith and Gregory Raupp, who officially took ownership of the building in December 2022.
“The process of removing these buildings had to come together fairly quickly in the past few weeks, as there were some bricks that had started falling off the building,” Smith said.
Smith said the couple has some ideas for development of the space, but want to evaluate the condition of the wall that was adjoining the dilapidated buildings first.
“We know that the building is one of the oldest buildings in the commercial district of Mount Vernon, and want to make sure that brick that was adjacent to those buildings is in great shape first and foremost,” Smith said.
Smith, Raupp and the council had noted the dilapidated buildings’ removal a necessity to protect the historic storefront building.
Weaver Farm Building was responsible for the project, and, as part of the process of demolishing the building, needed asbestos remediation had took place previously.
At the Mount Vernon Historic Preservation Commission meeting Saturday, Jan. 7, Weaver Farm Building outlined the next steps they are taking for the building, which includes a number of repairs to the roof of the building.
“The roof on the building is failing,” Clint Weaver said. “The areas that are failing are extensively on the east side of the building nearest Yock’s Landing.”
Clint said the building used to be a three-story building, and that the current roof does not have the appropriate metal caps for the roof currently. The group will also work on the southside of the building, cleaning up an unsightly portion of the roof to be more consistent with the rest off the roof. Until the roof repairs are made, other improvements to the building are currently on hold. The next will be addressing the brick and mortar.
The commission awarded the project with a certificate of no material effect for the needed roof repairs.

Gallery • 2 Photos

Nathan Countryman

Demolition 2