Century-old Centerville building at risk of collapse

CENTERVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – Caution tape surrounds a century-old building in Centerville’s town square. The building is at risk of collapse.

The reason? Last week’s powerful winds.

“The roof had been picked up by the wind last Friday, which had separated some of the walls from the structure,” said Alan Gilbert, a building official with the Town of Centerville.

The owners of the building knew something was wrong and contacted a contractor, who found three- and four-inch gaps in the roof and walls.

“What we were told yesterday was something as little as 20-to-30 miles per hour could cause the structure to start weakening and come down,” Gilbert said.

Very quickly, the town had to make a choice.

“This morning around 8 o’clock, we were notified, ‘you’re going to need to go in and get as much as you can out in an hour,” said Devin Pickard of Hope Church.

Pickard is affiliated with a shop that’s one of four tenants in the now-condemned building. Anything 70 feet away from the building is also impacted.

“This Shell station here has been closed down. This law office on the corner has been evacuated and closed down,” Pickard said. “Obviously, they don’t want any collateral damage if God-forbid the building was to fall, we don’t want anyone else to be harmed.”

While city leaders make a plan for demolition, people who live there are already pitching in.

“The beauty of this small town is that within a matter of an hour or so, every business there has already found a place to be,” Pickard said.

Gilbert said he remains concerned about the weather.

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