IN THE NEWS

Council debates McCool proposal
State Farm building may be torn down

By ANNE PICKERING
Staff Writer

WEST CHESTER - Borough Council discussed the McCool Property Group's proposed settlement agreement that involves tearing down the State Farm building in addition to the John Deere building to make way for its condominium project at Tuesday's work session.

According to a forensic engineer hired by McCool, the front wall of the State Farm building was not constructed properly initially. The brick facade was not attached to the inner front wall. Over the years, with water infiltrating the building, the mortar has deteriorated and the bricks are buckling. If the wall were to remain, it would have to be totally reconstructed.

McCool offered instead to thoroughly document the resources prior to demolition and make a $15,000 payment to the borough for future historic preservation efforts.

"We think the $15,000 (offer) is unprecendented but we're willing to do it," said Andy McCool in an interview following the meeting.

Mary Ann Rossi, the attorney for McCool, said the forensic engineer, James Cardillo of O'Donnell and Naccarato, who was hired to inspect the building, said there are good candidates for preservation and there are poor candidates - and this is a poor candidate.

She said the building would have to be braced during the demolition of the John Deere building and it was questionable whether it would emerge intact.

McCool received conditional approval for the 64-condominium mixed-use project in September with the condition that the developer try to
incorporate the facades and at least 10 feet of the side walls of the State Farm Insurance building at 104 E. Market St. and the John Deere
building at 114 E. Market St. One caveat granted the developer was that he would have to provide substantial evidence, other than cost, that the buildings could not be saved.

Chris McCool, a partner in the project, said at that time that the company would make a good-faith effort to incorporate some aspects of the State Farm building and if that couldn't be done, they would replicate the building. But preserving the John Deere building would be too costly.

Following an inspection of the John Deere building by McCool's engineer, the building was declared unsafe and the borough subsequently condemned it.

Council President H. Paul Fitzpatrick said he wasn't in favor of tearing the building (State Farm) down but he feared the borough would be sued if it turned McCool down.

"The owners have presented a good case. If we turn them down, they could go to court," he said.

"We're not just against the (condominium) project," said Councilman Charles Christy. "I'd like to see us take a shot at it. We've lost so many properties. I agree with you that (the John Deere) building is a dangerous building but State Farm, we can do something."

Councilwoman Carolyn Comitta also urged trying to keep a portion of the State Farm building. She said the developer's engineer thought there was a high probability of damage to the State Farm building with bracing when the John Deere building was demolished. "Isn't it true that the Coyote Crossing building could be damaged during demolition because of its close proximity?"

"If this building is not noteworthy of an attempt to shore up or adaptive reuse, are we not relinquishing our responsibility to the community to preserve our historical resources?" she said.

Council will formally vote on the issue Wednesday.

To contact staff writer Anne Pickering, send an e-mail to apickering@dailylocal.com.