6 thoughts on “Cherry Street Cleaners Demolished!”

1. So sad. I always wished that someone would restore that place and use it. I suppose so many years of cleaner chemicals probably made the land under it toxic as hell. I really hope that whoever is starting from scratch with it does something good with it. Another potentially beautiful old building bites the dust.

   How, exactly, did this slip under the radar?

2. There is no radar on that street.

3. “There is no radar on that street.”

   That is incorrect. I am the chair of the Garfield Community Council’s Land Use and Transportation Committee. Cherry Street (where my home is located) runs right through the middle of our district. I keep an eye on land use proposals and actions and inform my community. If you’re interested in coming to one of our meetings, the next one will be 8/1 at 7PM in the office above Neighbor Lady. You can email me at [email protected] and I’ll add your name to our mailing list.

   Regarding this specific project; to my knowledge, the owner of the Cherry Cleaners building has entered into a voluntary clean-up. The site is listed on state databases as contaminated. Nothing can be developed there without state-compliant environmental remediation. If you walk down the alley between that property and Twilight Exit, you’ll see a series of monitoring wells where ground contamination is being monitored.

   I watched that building come down a couple days ago. It was actually surprising what a total piece of crap it was. Just a bit of brick veneer on the front of a cinderblock box with no insulation or detailing at all. It was a pretty basic box, erected in the 1950s. Nothing I’d consider significant or beautiful, but as they say, De gustibus non est disputandum.

   • Best reply that I’ve seen on this site in a long time. Thanks Jonathan!
     I’m a huge fan of restoring beautiful old buildings, but this was not one of them. I just hope that they clean the site up and build something better there that can weather the test of time. I’m not a big fan of a lot of the new characterless buildings that are popping up around the city. Worst case scenario is that we get an ugly and occupied but non-toxic alternative to what has been there for years.

   • Yes, a great reply, another thank you. I appreciate the time and effort you and others put forth to improve this area.

4. Jonathan – thanks for the heads up. I had assumed the site was a.) older than it was, and b.) more interesting inside. I haven’t seen a new piece of architecture in this city that I prefer over anything more than 50 years old, short of the downtown library, the Bullitt Center, and one or two other buildings, but I suppose CDSam is right: worst case is a functional, non-toxic building. I have my fingers crossed that someone will use the blank slate to do something a little more inspiring than we usually see.