COLUMBIA SPY

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Susquehanna Glass Co. opens new gift shop, The Mayfly, in Columbia

The Mayfly opened Saturday, May 20 at 8 S. Third St. It's not a factory store, although Susquehanna Glass runs the business.

http://lancasteronline.com/business/local_business/susquehanna-glass-co-opens-new-gift-shop-the-mayfly-in/article_075a1194-40b6-11e7-a73a-bf49e24ff308.html

Lot from burned-out Bigler building now for sale for $124,900

For a mere $124,900 this can be yours.

The lot from a recently "demo-ed" building owned by Samuel and Cynthia Bigler is now for sale for an asking price of $124,900, according to a listing on realtor.com. The structure, at 421/423 Avenue G (sometimes referred to as 421 Walnut Street), was formerly a 6-unit apartment building that was condemned in June 2015 and suffered a fire the following September. The building was considered historic, because it was originally a 19th-century livery stable.

421/423 Avenue G as it appeared after the 2015 fire.

At an August 17, 2016 meeting of the Historic Architectural Review Board, Samuel Bigler laid out costs for a proposed restoration of the building totaling over $400,000. He said the numbers were based on an assessment by a restoration company and by three engineers, two of whom specialize in older buildings. The Biglers sought permission from HARB to instead demolish the building.

Sam Bigler said he had received $308,000 from his insurance company, because the building was a "total loss," as determined by three engineers.

The Biglers sought permission from HARB to demolish 421/423 Avenue G at its August 17, 2016 meeting.

Bigler said, "We've known for sometime that the building is a total loss."

During the discussion, Cynthia Bigler said, "It sounds like you're saying we didn't really care about this building. This building is one of our larger investments. We've cared about this building for more than 20 years. Anytime we had any issues with anything they were addressed. We have this building, that now we don't have. We had $800 times five per month. That property was up kept."

Permission was granted, and the building was subsequently demolished a few months ago.

The current "for sale" listing is shown below: