The future of the abandoned apartment building nearly leveled by a fire this month on West State is in limbo.
The fire occurred January 14th at 342 West State, known as the Cherry Apartments.
Jacksonville city officials would like to see the building come down as soon as possible. Morgan County officials would also like to see it gone. It sits next to the newly acquired Morgan County annex.
Jacksonville mayor Andy Ezard says the work right now is out of the city’s hands.
He says there is an active arson investigation, and the city does not own the property.
Arson is suspected, and the building can’t come down until the investigation is complete.
Ezard says the money for demolition is not as readily available for the city as it once was.
He fears the cost will fall back to the city, and the council will be asked to dig into the reserves to pay for it.
Ezard says the cost of the demolition, and removal is expected to be somewhere between $350- and a half million dollars.