Briarwood One building demolished after more than two years of pressure from city
Crew tears down last standing remnants of North Jackson eyesore
JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - A five-story building that once marred north Jackson’s landscape is now nothing but a pile of rubble.
The demolition of the Briarwood One building comes amid years of pressure from the city and a municipal judge.
The key to getting it all resolved — city leaders say — was coordination from code enforcers to a municipal judge who did his best to hold the owner at the time — Mike Kohan — accountable.
Judge Jeffrey Reynolds even tried to have Kohan extradited and jailed for failing to follow court orders to repair or demolish the property.
Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said this is one of many examples of how the city’s outgoing planning and development director, Chloe Dotson, made significant progress in Jackson’s fight against blight.
“I think Chloe deserves her flowers for being able to deal with not only the Briarwood property, you didn’t even mention, Casa Grande, or, you know, looking at how we have new rooftops in communities that have been without new builds for 30 years. All of that is important, taking on very difficult challenges, that we’ve stood behind her.”
Workers at the site are doing their best to separate the rubble so it can be sold for scrap and safely disposed of.
It’s not clear what the property will be used for once the remnants have been cleared.
Mayor Lumumba said they have a strong team to make that happen, and they’ve been able to make significant progress in recent years.
“We’ve been able to take down a number of large and costly structures across the city in an effort to show growth, in an effort to show you know that we’re turning the page and getting rid of those relics and safety hazards that exist within our city,” Lumumba said.
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