Owner, tenants working to reopen historic Altoona building that was previously condemned

ALTOONA, Pa. (WJAC) — Last month, we reported that water damage led to a historic Blair County building being condemned.

Now, officials say work has been done on the building and it could be back in operation soon.

The Gable's Building in downtown Altoona was condemned just a few weeks ago, but according to one of the building's tenants, at least part of it could be reopened as soon as next week.

There are two parts of the Gable's Building, one side located along 12th Avenue and the other along 11th Avenue.

In January, city officials say a sprinkler head blew, causing water damage and concerns with the electrical system.

A tenant of the building, who has also been involved in working on repairs, says the water only affected one part of the 12th Avenue side, along with the 11th avenue side, but city officials ordered the building to be vacated and condemned after an inspection.

According to tenant Pam Mitchell, since then, all water has been cleaned up in both buildings and the faulty sprinkler head on the 12th Avenue side has been fixed.

She says all demands have been met to open the 12th Avenue building, but the city is not able to inspect it until next week.

On the other hand, the sprinkler system on the 11th Avenue side still needs repaired before contacting city officials about possible next steps.

Engineers have been to the site, according to Mitchell, and have been "impressed by the structural integrity of the building."

She says there have been talks with city officials about helping pay to preserve the building, but she says there has been resistance.

There were six tenants in the 12th Avenue office, but at least one will not be coming back.

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