Main-Oak Building continues to languish

Nearly two years have passed since a collapse of the Main-Oak Building in the heart of downtown Mount Airy, which has sat unrepaired since — although a breakthrough could be on the horizon.

While city government leaders have led efforts to address the situation from safety and redevelopment standpoints, the fate of the structure now firmly rests with the private sector in terms of a new use, according to one official.

“There is a private investment group that is looking to see if it’s a worthy investment for them,” Mayor Jon Cawley advised Thursday.

A portion of the roof at the building on the corner of North Main and East Oak streets fell in on July 5, 2022, posing a major safety hazard that forced the closure of East Oak and one lane of North Main Street for months.

While the traffic situation has returned to normal and the building stabilized to prevent any further collapse, the structure basically has languished unattended since the incident nearly two years ago.

The situation recently returned to the forefront publicly during a May 2 meeting of the Mount Airy Board of Commissioners, which an official of a downtown group addressed when discussing an expansion of a downtown tax district to an area nearby.

“We’re very concerned about the Main-Oak Building,” said Bryan Grote, the president of the governing board for Mount Airy Downtown Inc., which works to bring investment and improvements to the central business district.

Meetings earlier occurred between municipal officials and representatives of Mt. Airy One LLC of Durham, which bought the property in 2021 with plans to develop housing there. This was due to a belief the owner was not moving fast enough with repairs.

“The city is hoping private investment will take care of the need,” Mayor Cawley added Thursday, as opposed to governmental intervention.

“And the city will just stay out of it,” he said.

The mayor indicated that this does not mean Mount Airy officials are washing their hands of the matter.

“The city is uncomfortable with the condition of that building,” he emphasized. “We want it fixed,” while recognizing that the private investment group now offers the best chance to accomplish this.

That entity, which Cawley declined to identify, is exercising due-diligence with the Main-Oak Building to determine if it can achieve a profit with the injection of funds for revamping the site weighed against a new use.

One complicating factor that must be taken into account involves the fact there is debt owed against the property, he said.

“So we’re letting that run its course,” the mayor mentioned regarding the analysis by the investment group.

A 90-day process has been set aside for this, “and we’re in the midst of that,” said Cawley, who does not know what progress might have been made so far.

“There has not been any answer to that, that has come back to us,” he disclosed.