Keokuk will help pay for the demolition of the Redemption Center at 618 and 624 Main Street. The uninsured business was severely damaged by a fire early Thursday morning.
Mayor Tom Marion said the city agreed to cover the upfront costs of $20,000-$25,000 for owner Brian Boyd because it's worried about the structural integrity of the building and the threat of collapse.
"(The city) will front the money," said Marion. "However, we have set up an arrangement where (Brian) Boyd can reimburse us. We have some safety net in there where he owns some other properties, so we will be able to proceed."
Marion said the demolition could get underway as early as Friday.
The agreement resulted from a 30-minute meeting between Marion and Boyd Thursday afternoon.
After the meeting, Boyd said he could not afford to rebuild the Redemption Center at its current location. So he plans to relocate the can and bottle collecting business for the time-being.
"I believe we will be using our old pawn shop over on S. 12th, right across from the (Keokuk) Police Department," said Boyd. "Hopefully, we will be operational there within a couple weeks with City Council approval."
Boyd said the redemption center he owns in Fort Madison will pick up the slack from the Keokuk location.
This is a case of deja vu for Boyd. In September 2006 one of his buildings near the Redemption Center that was used for recycling and storage was destroyed by fire.
"I can't believe it happened again," said Boyd.
Boyd said he did not learn of the fire until 3:00 a.m. Thursday, about 90 minutes after Fire Chief Gabe Rose said crews arrived on the scene.
"The on-duty crew came up here and had the heavy smoke conditions, which quickly turned to a lot of fire," said Rose.
"They called for another shift. Shortly after the call for one shift, it led to an 'all-call' because things started deteriorating very quickly inside the structure."
Rose said it took about 90 minutes to get control of the fire. He said the department had to bring in a local contractor because heavy equipment was needed to clear a path for firefighters to further investigate the fire.
"We did find the origin," said Rose. "We know where it started, we just don't know what caused it. There are no utilities or anything to the building, so it is a suspicious fire."
Rose said the fire was basically contained to the Redemption Center. No injuries were reported.
The Keokuk Police Department is investigating because the fire is considered suspicious.
The Redemption Center had been closed for some time after the city declared it unsafe to occupy.
