STERLING – The city is demolishing several deteriorating buildings, including properties along the 400 block of East Third Street and the 500 block of Avenue B.

Sterling Building and Zoning Director Amanda Schmidt said the problems at the properties range from extreme disrepair and deterioration to owner abandonment. The city has purchased the properties to help expedite the demolition process.

“Unfortunately, the buildings we are demolishing have fallen into extreme disrepair,” Schmidt said. “Whether somebody passes away or just walks away from it, the abandonment process through the courts or finally getting somebody to sign it over to us, it just takes so long, and it feels like the wheels get stuck sometimes.”

406 Broadway & 907 First Ave.

Both properties are slated for demolition, but the Broadway property has been an issue that Schmidt and her team have been trying to tackle for more than 10 years.

“It’s abnormal for it to take that long because usually somebody else moves in, takes it over and tries to fix it up,” Schmidt said. “The property owner was not agreeable that there were problems with it. It finally got to the point where she got a Realtor. The Realtor was like, ‘You can’t sell this place. It’s not going to sell.’ So having somebody else tell her helped her to get that motivation to do something with it.”

The demolition of both properties will be paid for using grant funds from the Illinois Housing Development Authorities’ Strong Communities Program, which will reimburse the city up to $40,000 per property. The program was created in 2020 through the Rebuild Illinois capital budget, with funds from the Building Illinois Bond Fund. The grant can be used for the acquisition, maintenance, rehabilitation and demolition of abandoned residential property.

Bids for those projects are targeted for Wednesday, Oct. 30, with tentative plans to go before the Sterling City Council on Monday, Nov. 4, for approval.

501 & 503 Ave. B

The city purchased both properties May 1 but condemned 503 Ave. B on Dec. 13, 2023, due to “subpar” living conditions.

“To say the conditions inside were subpar isn’t even the right word. They were awful,” Schmidt said. “Infestation and free-flowing sewage were going into one apartment from another. We finally got the property owner to sell it to us, and we’re going to demo the property. We’ve had a couple of people walk through them to see if they were interested in redevelopment, but it’s deteriorated so badly that it’s not an option at this point.”

410, 412 & 414 E. Third St.

The city purchased the buildings from the former owner with future plans for redevelopment. The city is demolishing what remains of those sites and abating any asbestos because insurance would not cover the cost. The city could have sought legal action to try to make the former owner pay those costs, but that would incur extra time and legal costs, Schmidt said.

Schmidt does not have a timeline for the project but hopes demolition can begin by the spring.

402 Ave. D & 1111 Third Ave.

Schmidt said the row houses on Avenue D have been vacant for years.

“We have been trying to push the property owners to take care of it, to do something with it, to maintain or do something with it one way or the other,” Schmidt said. “Now, we have a court order to enter and do an interior inspection to report back to the court, but we haven’t scheduled that yet.”

The property at Third Avenue is a rental duplex that was condemned.

“We had never been in the second part of that duplex, and it was atrocious,” Schmidt said. “In the 17 years I’ve been doing this, it was probably one of the worst properties I’ve ever been in, and people were living in it. So, unfortunately, we condemned it. We have ordered the property owner to demolish it.”