captions, from top:

Former Bradley Beef site

Former Metal Mast site. Linda Lemmon photos.


And eyesores coming down
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM — Eyesores are coming down. Within the last couple weeks, the former home of Bradley Beef on School Street was demolished, as was the former Metal Mast on Providence Street.
Mayor Barney Seney said the town had written to the owners of the former Bradley Beef building requesting it be demolished as it as it was unsafe. The owners, 284 School Street LLC of Oxford, Mass., did not remove the building and so, Seney said the town acted within the state statutes and had the building razed. The work was done by Mancini Demolition of Rhode Island and what remains is all the debris leveled off in the footprint of the building.
In addition to covering the cost of the demolition, the town will also cover the cost of putting a safety fence around the site. It is up to the owners, he said, to have the debris removed — debris that contains asbestos.
The cost to the town is $15,000 for the demolition work and around $7,000 for the fence. The exact amount awaits the invoice from Killingly Fence Co.
Once the final figure is determined, a lien will be put against the property in that amount. Whenever the property is sold, that lien will have to be repaid to the town.
A short ride away, on Providence Street, the owners of the former Metal Mast had that site leveled. Seney said the owner, ICB Enterprise Initiative LLC of Woodstock, had the site cleared at the town’s request.
The next site in the town’s sights is the long-ago burned building on High Street. Requests for the demolition of that unsafe site were unheeded so the town is gearing up to have it demolished. It will be a similar scenario as with the School Street property.
On a brighter note, Seney said the town is still working with the bank that owns the chock-a-block full property on Woodstock Avenue. The town anticipates that the bank will have a dumpster and a crew to clear out the unsafe property, possibly this week.

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