Rubble from the rear of the Avalon Theatre spilled into the alley behind the building after a roof truss broke causing the building to collapse late Thursday. The theater was in the middle of a $3.2 million renovation. (Journal-Tribune photo by Sam Dillon)
By Mac Cordell and Kayleen Petrovia
There is a hole in Marysville’s Uptown this morning.
Shortly after 10 p.m. Thursday, the Avalon Theatre, 121 S. Main St., collapsed.
“The bones of this girl have gone through some stuff and it was tired I guess,” said Sarah Barr, executive director of Marysville Uptown Theatre, the nonprofit organization that will own and operate the theater.
Barr said a truss near the rear of the building, “had been damaged through deterioration.”
“They (the project’s structural engineer) told us it was something that we needed to watch and was going to need replaced,” Barr said.
City Manager Terry Emery, who sits on the Marysville Uptown Theatre board, said the truss was “too weak to hold.”
He said the truss broke, collapsing the building and taking pieces of adjacent buildings with it.
First responders and city officials were on the scene within minutes. Main Street, from Fifth to Sixth streets, was closed to traffic.
“I am so thankful that it happened at 10:30 p.m. on a Thursday and no one was hurt,” Barr said.
Although no one was injured, Mason Kern, who lives in an apartment in an adjacent building, said two of his vehicles were totaled as a result of the collapse.
Kern said he arrived at his apartment after work Thursday night and saw police officers and firefighters crowded in the back alley where he usually parks his car.
He said he noticed his 2007 Honda Civic and 1999 Mazda Miata were covered in bricks before he talked to police officers and realized the Avalon Theatre collapsed.
“You don’t really expect anything like that to happen until it happens,” he said.
Kern said his apartment was not damaged, but he was unable to stay there Thursday night because police needed to evaluate the safety of the building.
He said he is still uncertain when he will be able to move back in, but isn’t concerned for his safety.
“The building has been up for so long… I’m not really that worried,” Kern said.
As far as the Avalon, Emery said project and city officials will “assess the situation.”
A decision will be made “later” about the fate of the building, according to Barr.
Dennis Schulze, president of Marysville Uptown Theatre Board of Directors, said the board hopes to preserve as much of the historic building as possible.
“We want as much of the original as we can, but it’s just up to the building to cooperate with us,” he said.
Schulze said he is uncertain how much of the structure can be saved because the structural engineer has not yet completed a final report following the collapse.
Regardless, he said the goal of reopening the Avalon Theater has always been to recreate the memories community members have there.
“All along, we wanted to make it so people feel like it’s special,” he said.
Since the future of the building itself is uncertain, Schulze said “we’re going to have to do it in the interior.”
Emery added that crews will “begin work pretty quickly.”
Barr said the front exterior was already being replaced because it was too weak to hold the theatre’s façade and marquees.
“The rest of the exterior was in good shape,” Barr said.
Emery said some of the brick was “really weak.” He added that the wall that collapsed “was coming down anyway.”
“The problem is, the building was in worse shape than we anticipated,” Emery said.
Schulze said the board planned to use salvageable bricks from the front wall in construction of other parts of the building. He said that could also be the case for parts of the building that collapsed.
Emery said the collapse could be a blessing, especially since no one was hurt.
“Maybe it was telling us we need to rebuild more of it,” Emery said.
He added, “now we can rebuild the way it needs to be rebuilt.”
Barr said the project will continue.
“We can’t just stop. We have a mission to meet, we have a need in this community to address. It might take more time. It might take more money, but we have to move forward.”
Schulze said the project may now be more expensive and require more fundraising, but the group is “trying to stay on schedule” and move forward at a “reasonable pace.”
After speaking with the project structural engineer, Emery said he has been assured, “everything in the front is good to go and we are able to open Main Street again.”
The street was opened about 9:15 a.m. this morning.
When the building collapsed it tore a hole in the adjoining wall of the apartment on the north side of the theater. (Journal-Tribune photo by Sam Dillon)
Above, the cars of Mason Kern, who lives next to the Avalon Theatre, are smashed under a pile of rubble after the theater collapsed late Thursday. There is a second car under the pile of bricks directly in front of the visible car. (Photo submitted)
More photos of the Avalon Collapse Feature Photos