Carnegie officials have vowed to find out this week why owner Oliver Weiss is taking so long to raze the rest of the Mathias Building on East Main Street.
Half of the three-story building remains after a demolition project that began about three months ago, leaving an unattractive exhibit and a possible danger for passers-by.
"It's a total eyesore," council President Larry Harkovich said. He said Weiss "contracted someone to raze that building, and it was stopped in midstream."
The Mathias Building is across the street from the Old Main Hotel, a now-closed restaurant where a CVS drug store has been proposed.
Harkovich said borough officials have been trying to reach Weiss, but Harkovich suspects the matter will go into litigation.
"Weiss has to finish the job — no ifs, ands or buts," he said. "That's one of our main spots in Carnegie, and you drive through there now and it looks like heck. It's embarrassing. It's a safety hazard. We will get to the bottom of it this week."
Weiss couldn't be reached for comment Tuesday.
Harkovich said the borough could finish tearing down the building and bill Weiss.
Allegheny County's Web site says the property at 360 E. Main St. is valued at $135,100.
Councilman Tim Volk said he understands Weiss originally intended to renovate the building and turn it into apartments. And by doing that, Volk said, Weiss was supposed to get relief from some of the back taxes he owed to the Carlynton School District.
But Weiss instead hired a contractor to demolish the building, and the school district reinstated its tax lien, he said.
"The liens are above whatever he would get" for selling the building, Volk explained, so there is no reason for him to finish tearing it down.
"It's just terrible," Volk said. "There is brick in the road and on the sidewalk. It's just a matter of time before someone gets hurt."
Harkovich said Weiss owed at least $60,000 in back taxes to the school district. Borough officials said he owes no back taxes to Carnegie.
Kirby Christy, the school district's business manager, couldn't be reached for comment yesterday.
Marcella McGrogan, director of the Carnegie Area Historical Society, said the Mathias Building started out in the 1930s as a local bar.
"It's such a shame. Now it just looks very bad for the borough," she said.
Next door was a wholesale food store called Potter and McCune, also dating to the '30s, McGrogan said. Volk said the walls of that building are beginning to buckle because of the work on the Mathias Building.
