Crumbling former Macomb Daily building raises safety concerns

Mount Clemens, Mich. (WJBK) - One of the oldest buildings in Mount Clemens is crumbling, literally.

The backstory:

It once housed the Macomb Daily newspaper - but now, bricks are falling off the 100-year-old building.

The structure is boarded up, and it is a far cry from what it used to be.

Gregg Shipman is the city manager for Mount Clemens.

"I believe that’s where the Macomb Daily originated," he said. "I’m going to date myself a little bit, but when I was a kid, I used to go there with my parents to pay for the newspaper. They would pay directly at the building.

"I remember going in and it was this really kind of ornate entrance inside. I remember, like, marble floors and a very classy elevator, brass, copper, and I was always wanting to go with my parents just to see the building."

Now, the seven-story building on Cass Avenue and Walnut Street is abandoned.

Shipman says it has been this way since 1994 when the Macomb Daily News left.

Recently the city says it's been getting reports that bricks and debris are falling off.

They say no one’s been hurt - yet, but officials are concerned.

Crews have put up yellow tape and fencing to keep folks out of it and safe.

City officials have also reached out to the owners of the building to get something done.

Mayor Laura Kropp says fix it up or tear down.

"We are doing some major revitalization to the downtown and it’s somewhat discouraging to have this building that’s literally crumbling and a developer who’s not from town," she said. "He is very much an absentee landowner. and, has not invested in the community or in that building to make it better.

"So it’s significant in terms of when we’re attracting economic development to the city, you have this very glaring building that kind of represents what we were and not where we’re going."

FOX 2 reached out to the owners as well and are waiting to hear back.