Abandoned properties impact Hub City homeowners

JACKSON, Tenn. — Nearly 50 buildings in the Hub City have been condemned since June 2015.

That figure is only a fraction of the properties within the city limits sitting vacant today.

“They had to come and tear it down,” Bilal Manny said Tuesday morning after driving by a former store at the intersection of Lexington and Boone streets.

Manny said the “old blue store” was known for selling fish and coleslaw. Manny and several other residents who noticed the pile Tuesday morning said they were surprised to see the building had been demolished.

An overnight shift commander with the Jackson Police Department said the former store had collapsed in the overnight hours. Demo crews said they started tearing the building down on Monday.

Gary Hardee with the city of Jackson says this is only one example of a nuisance building in the city. Hardee said the former building was beyond repair and had been boarded up for months.

“It attracts rodents. Vagrants get into the houses,” Hardee said. “We’ve had numerous ones caught on fire, especially in the winter time.”

In the past 10 months, 47 buildings have been demolished by the city. It’s unclear exactly how many vacant buildings are in the city. The abandoned properties are known to impact neighborhoods and bring down property values.

“It got vandalized, kept getting vandalized — people kept coming in and opening it up, busting the windows and knocking the support beams. Eventually this is what you’re going to get,” Manny said.

Hardee says if owners can be located, the city holds them accountable for demo and removing debris. If owners are not located, the city pays for it with tax dollars.