MARIANNA, Fla. (WMBB) — In Marianna, a historic landmark, damaged by Hurricane Michael has been taken down.
The 19th-century site, known as the ‘Pelt Building’ has been demolished.
Built in 1890, the ‘Pelt Building’ on Lafayette Street went through five different owners before being bought by Harry Pelt in 1980.
The building was named Buddy’s Appliance and Furniture Store for 38 years until it was destroyed by Hurricane Michael in 2018.
In May of 2023, the city of Marianna purchased the building from Pelt for $58,000.
“There was lots of lots of interest in the building coming down. Even before I came to work here when it was known that I was coming to work here, I got lots of questions about what was that building going to come down,” said City of Marianna City Manager William Long.
Demolition on the building started in August and finished in October.
It cost the city $189,000 in grant money.
“We literally took it down a few blocks at the time to keep there being any debris falling into the streets,” Long said.
Taking down the ‘Pelt Building’ is only phase 1 of a three-part plan.
“Right now we’re sort of in phase two of the project, which is investigating kind of the old storm sewer systems and the old utilities that are underneath the building,” said DHM Engineering Project Manager Brent Melvin.
Officials are planning to update the infrastructure and make sure the foundation of the 7,000-square-foot lot is stable enough for future construction projects.
After making sure the groundwork is up to date, they will begin phase 3.
“Not 100% sure of exactly what the end product is going to look like, but there will likely be a naming of that corner, something with a little historic flavor, there will likely be potentially a structure put there, that welcomes people to the city of Marianna, so we want to beef up downtown,” Long said.
Marianna officials are planning on holding workshops to ask what residents would like to see at that location.
