Murray Main Street officials want the public to know downtown is open and most businesses are unaffected following this weekend’s partial building collapse just off the court square.
One business that is affected is that of Tony Page, a CPA whose offices are next door to the building that collapsed. He said he’s waiting on the go-ahead to go into the building and retrieve important software so he can get to work on customers’ taxes, but is thankful no one was hurt when the building collapsed at 10:30 p.m. Saturday.
“It could have been a worse time, if it had been in the middle of the day Saturday where we were all working,” Page said. “I feel very, very fortunate that we’re just trying to recover equipment, as opposed to it being a lot worse case scenario."
"It is an extremely busy time because all the farmers returns are due at the end of this week," Page said.
At a meeting of the 15 businesses impacted by the collapse this morning, city administrator Matt Mattingly said that a structural engineer is currently assessing the property and should have a preliminary report prepared for the city by the end of day.
Some business owners who have been denied access to their buildings voiced concerns about their pipes freezing this week as temperatures dip back into the teens. Mattingly said that the city would look into addressing that potential problem.
In the meantime, the entrance to Main Street at its intersection with 12th Street is still blocked off to re-route commercial traffic.
