Jacksonville seeks grant funding to demolish unsafe Cherry Apartments ruin

The burned-out Cherry Apartments at 342 West State Street has turned into more than a scar on West State Street. Jacksonville officials said the building must come down as soon as possible after engineers concluded it is structurally unsafe, and the site has kept the Morgan County probation department and other nearby offices away from the neighboring building until the property is cleaned up.

City leaders were also looking for grant money to help pay for demolition and cleanup at the former apartment complex, where a January 15 fire left behind a ruin investigators were considering suspicious. The cost is a major obstacle. Jacksonville City Council already voted to waive bids and award the work to Jaren Industries of Springfield for $350,000, but legal hurdles still have to be cleared before crews can start.

Mayor Andy Ezard said only the tax buyers of the property still need to be reached, and he has pushed for the city to be ready to move quickly once the court issues are resolved. The urgency is tied to safety as much as appearance. Ezard said the structure no longer is safe, and the city sees the damaged building as a threat to nearby people and buildings, not just an empty lot waiting for cleanup.

The vote drew pushback from alderman Aaron Scott, who voted no and questioned whether the owners would pay for the demolition or whether grant money should cover it instead. Scott Driver of Driver Construction and Grading also raised concerns about notice to businesses and about where the debris would ultimately be landfilled. City officials have said the demolition waste is difficult to landfill because of the materials left in the building, adding another layer of cost and delay.

Jacksonville’s search for outside help comes as the city is already moving ahead on other expensive public works, including a $3 million state grant for the South Main Street bridge project. That makes the Cherry Apartments site part of a larger fight over how Jacksonville pays for major projects while still addressing an immediate safety problem on West State Street. For now, the empty shell remains a problem that has not gone away months after the fire, and city officials are trying to line up money before the dangerous ruin can finally come down.