CEDC okays plan to demolish Antro Hotel

The Clarendon Economic Development Corporation sealed the fate of the old Antro Hotel with two motions Monday night during a called meeting.

The 92-year-old building at the corner of First and Kearney suffered irreparable damage from July 29 windstorm that collapsed more than half of the north wall of the dilapidated structure.

This week the CEDC voted first to contract with Pierce Engineering to draft and oversee a demolition plan for the building at a cost of $2,700 and then approved a motion to accept a proposal from TNT Construction to bring the structure down for $15,900.

Additional costs to dispose of debris from the demolition will be borne by the city.

Steps are being taken to salvage some historic architectural details of the building, including some of the facing brick, cast ornamental tiles from the top and mid-section of the east and north walls, and the old sign on the front of the hotel. The CEDC, which acquired the property about four years ago, intends to repurpose those elements in a future development on the same site.