The disintegrating building in the middle of Rossville is finally going down.
City officials reached an agreement earlier this month with the owners of 303 Chickamauga Ave., formerly occupied by the La Dean Bridal Shop and a bingo hall once stood. The building became the center of an alleged criminal conspiracy that stretched to other small towns in North Georgia, and in March 2016, the structure partially collapsed amid a heavy rain storm.
For the last 15 months, the two-story building has stood abandoned, with a caved-in roof and a second floor exposed to the rain, hail, sun and wind. The city government finally reached a consent agreement with the property owners on June 5.
According to the agreement, the property owners had to either move the building up to code or destroy it by last Saturday. They did neither, giving city workers the right to tear it down. According to a Facebook post on the Rossville Public Works page, employees will try to remove most water, power, phone, cable and gas lines this week.
The city also scheduled asbestos testing.