Sunday, May 5, 2024 
Sunday, May 5, 2024
April 23, 2020
With work underway to drive piles into the ground for the new 10th Street bridge’s foundation, the city has encountered an unexpected issue with a nearby building on 1st Avenue East.
“Late last week, we noticed movement in the remaining building – some foundation settlement – and we had to take some precautionary measures and increase the monitoring of the building,” Dennis Kefalas, Owen Sound’s director of public works and engineering, said in an interview.
The city posted a notice requiring the tenants of the building at 994 1st Ave. E. to move out until the cause of the problem can be determined, he said.
One of the tenants was booked into a hotel Friday night, while the other has found alternate lodging.
Kefalas said it looks like the problem is due to sand settling under the building. The contractor is now exploring potential solutions to stabilize the structure, he said.
In January 2019, Owen Sound council approved a staff recommendation for the city to purchase for $225,000 the building at 95-99 10th St. E., adjacent to the bridge, in order to demolish the structure to accommodate the new bridge’s foundation.
A report to council at the time said it appeared the under-structure of the former bridge went into the foundation of the building. Replacing the bridge with the building still standing would “present challenges including not damaging the building during construction,” the report said.
The building was torn down late last year.
Owen Sound officials also said in January 2019 that the city was in talks with the owner of the building at 994 1st Ave. E., which was joined with a common wall to 95-99 10th St. E., to also buy that structure.
However, those discussions did not result in a purchase and the building is still standing.
Kefalas said work began recently to drive structural H-piles into the ground for the new bridge’s foundation.
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