St. Clair County announces 34 more derelict homes will be demolished with state grant

St. Clair County will soon demolish 34 more derelict homes using money from a $2 million state grant.

These homes — 33 in Washington Park and one in East Carondelet — are part of the latest round of county demolitions. They will cost $306,216.

The county previously used $260,780 of the grant on the first round of demolitions that started in May: a vacant commercial building in Belleville and 30 houses in Cahokia Heights.

The county acquired the properties, among thousands of others, when the former owners stopped paying property taxes .

The St. Clair County Board executed a contract for the latest round of demolitions with Murphy Excavation and Contracting LLC on Aug. 1.

The contract states that the work must be completed within 45 days after the contractor receives notice to proceed. That deadline can be extended due to weather delays.

The most expensive demolition will be a home at 1512 Purdue Ave. in Washington Park, one of the most intact buildings. Many others are missing roofs and walls from fires.

The Purdue Avenue house will cost $21,240 to demolish. The rest of the home demolitions will cost between $4,000 and about $18,500.

Most of the 34 vacant properties to be demolished were owned by individuals before the county acquired them for back taxes. Six were owned by companies based in East St. Louis, Collinsville, Florida and Washington, D.C.

The county tries to sell some foreclosed properties to interested investors at tax auctions. Most of the homes slated for demolition don’t get sold because of their “severely deteriorated conditions,” St. Clair County Board Chairman Mark Kern said in a message to the community on Tuesday.

“Under my watch we have been tackling the problem of derelict, unsafe houses for over a decade,” Kern wrote in a post on his public Facebook page.

More demolitions will be announced until the grant money runs out.

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