More bricks tumble at old Mardi Gras building

ELYRIA — For the second time in six months, bricks fell from a building at Washington Avenue and Depot Street, causing the city to cordon off the alleyway next door. The building at 100 Washington Ave. stood quiet early Tuesday afternoon, a bucket lift parked on the Washington Avenue side. On the south side of the building, Merchants Alley between Washington Avenue and Kerstetter Way was blocked off with barricades and caution tape. Assistant Safety Service Director Kevin Brubaker said Merchants Alley will remain closed through at least Tuesday with construction equipment present to inspect the building and make the area safe. "This is your traditional older building with a brick facade that, due to the weather, water gets behind the brick. It freezes, it expands, it thaws, it freezes, it expands, it thaws. And over time, it will loosen the mortar up," he said. The bricks fell into the alleyway and a few fell onto the sidewalk on Washington Avenue, but no one was hurt, Brubaker said. Fortunately, he said, the project manager rehabilitating the building had a Bobcat loader nearby and a lift available to inspect the building and remove some additional loose brick, before piling up what fell to the ground. Additional assessment of the upper levels of the four-story building will continue through the week, Brubaker said. "We're keeping the alley blocked," he said. "The building itself is not going to collapse." A similar incident happened the morning of Aug. 9, and forced city officials to close Washington Avenue between Broad Street and the Norfolk Southern Railroad Bridge for a portion of the day. The building at 100 Washington Ave. dates to the late 1890s and formerly was the home of the Mardi Gras Lounge. Several years ago, city leaders urged the state to strip that bar of its liquor license due to violent crime there — including a stabbing in the apartments above the bar, according to Chronicle-Telegram archives. After the Mardi Gras Lounge went into receivership and foreclosure, the building that housed it and two others on Broad Street were bought by Diversified Investments of Grafton in January 2015 in a $200,000 deal, according to Chronicle-Telegram archives. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or do'brien@chroniclet.com. Follow him at @daveobrienCT on Twitter.