Fire or no fire at Sinclair site, city was working FEMA to help pay for demolition

City Manager Jim Prosser on Tuesday noted that the City Council's intent has been to demolish much if not most of the former Sinclair meatpacking plant ever since the city purchased it in 2006.

The June 2008 flood sent water throughout the building, driving out several small business tenants, which had been operating in part of the sprawling former slaughterhouse.

Prospects for the use of any part of the building diminished after the flood, Prosser said.

In fact, in the last two weeks, City Council members Brian Fagan and Justin Shields asked for an update on the city's demolition plans for the Sinclair site and other flood-damaged city buildings – the First Street parkade and the former Quality Chef building on Third Street SE just a few blocks from the Sinclair plant -- that had been targets for demolition even before the June 2008 flood.

A city consultant reported to Fagan, Shields and the rest of the council that the Federal Emergency Management Agency likely will help pay to demolish the Sinclair buildings because the city had tenants in part of the structure at the time of the flood.

On Tuesday, Prosser dismissed any suggestion that anyone at City Hall or at FEMA was celebrating a fire in the old packinghouse because it might reduce the cost of demolition.

In fact, Prosser said the fire won't reduce the demolition cost, but instead, will complicate assessments of which parties will pay for the demolition.

“It's not going to any cheaper. It's going to make it more complicated now,” he said.

Prosser said there has never been a question that the Sinclair site is a “historically significant element of our community.”

“The question always was, what could we preserve?” he said.

Prior to the flood, an assortment of developers over time, Prosser noted, had taken a look at the site to see what part of it might be worth redeveloping. The conclusion was that “significant portions” of the buildings were not reusable, he said.

The one historic element at the site most often mentioned, Prosser noted, was the plant's smokestack, which council member Fagan made reference to at the council meeting two weeks ago.

Prosser said the city determined prior to the flood that it would take some work and expense to preserve the smokestack.

He said it was possible that Tuesday's fire could have impact on other “historic features” of the Sinclair site. But it was too early to know, he said.