The city of Marthasville will receive over $135,000 from a state grant to demolish vacant buildings that city leaders say are a blight on the community.

The community development block grant will help pay to demolish the abandoned hat factory on North Two Street, along with around five vacant residences. 

“This will help take down ... structures in town, old dilapidated houses and the old hat factory,” said Marthasville Mayor David Lange. He explained that the city will prioritize removing run-down houses, then use the remainder of the funding toward the hat factory demolition.

The grant funding is issued by the Missouri Department of Economic Development to help small communities make needed improvements. This was the city’s second attempt at getting the grant, after a 2018 application was not approved.

The structures to be removed have been abandoned for at least a year, and most longer than that. Officials have previously commented that several are exposed to the elements and possibly have vermin living in them.

Based on early estimates, the city expects the grant will only cover partial demolition of the hat factory, by far the largest building to be removed. East Ward Alderman Nick Lange said the city should make plans to cover the rest of the cost to remove the entire structure at once.

“If we want the entire factory removed, we should ... have the companies that are bidding on this bid (to demolish) the complete structure,” Nick Lange said. “If it goes over the budget that will be out of our pocket, but we’re doing it for the best value to consider it being done in totality.”

Boonslick Regional Planning Commission assistant Marthasville in applying for the grant and will help administer the demolition projects. Boonslick Project Coordinator Chuck Eichmeyer said the next step is to get inspections and environmental studies done at the properties. He said the environmental review usually takes two to four months.

“If everything goes OK,  we may be looking at late spring or early summer going out to bids for the demolitions,” Eichmeyer said. He’s hoping all the demolitions would be complete by mid to late fall.

However, the completion time is dependent on the results of the environmental studies. No environmental problems are expected, but an unexpected issue could demand extra steps.

“You never know until you get the environmental study complete. If there’s any hurdles, that’s where it will be,” Eichmeyer commented. “It’s a pretty standard demolition project. ... I’m not anticipating any concerns.”