Co-owner of Pearman Pharmacy, Dustin Melton said he found the remains of the building when he showed up to work at around 8 a.m. that morning.
“I was glad that it didn’t fall when anybody was in the building and nobody was hurt,” Melton said.
According to City Commissioner Drew Griffin, the building was not occupied by any business at the time of the collapse.
“The business that had been there had already left. It was acquired by the First Christian Church here in town and there were plans to go ahead and demolish this building anyway. This is just somewhat expedited the timetable,” Griffin said.
The City said their first priority is keeping the area around the building safe for surrounding businesses and pedestrians.
“After we were able to assess the situation, what we decided to do was we wanted to close off the street access first to try to minimize the traffic coming through here. And then from that point in time, we worked to try to find someone with the proper equipment to maybe begin demolition on the building sooner than we expected,” said Griffin.
The City also said they’re thankful to Pearman pharmacy for their help.
“They’ve been incredibly patient and cooperative and trying to do everything they can to make sure that their customers and the general public are safe when they come in their store,” Griffin said.
Another neighboring business, 120 Coffee, was scheduled to open Tuesday before the incident.
According to city officials, the grand opening is still on.
