GARY — With the Sheraton Hotel now a chunk of historic rubble, the city’s top eyesore could be the crumbling Ambassador Apartments at 574 Monroe St.
It’s now slated to come down next year.
The 86-year-old eight-story apartment building has been closed since the 1980s and is a favorite target of vandals. They’ve removed everything of value from the interior and have left behind graffiti and empty liquor bottles. Some of the exterior façade has been stolen, leaving loose bricks that tumble off during storms.
The looming hulk of a crumbling building is an easy baseball toss from Jefferson Elementary, which sits directly to the south.
When a downed power line knocked out electricity to Jefferson Elementary after the Oct. 31 storm, utility crews feared for their safety because bricks were falling off the Ambassador in an alley. A new power source had to be established more than a block away and the school had to cancel classes on Nov. 3.
In 2012, the city blocked off 6th Avenue when bricks began falling off the building into the street and sidewalk. Later that year, a group of state officials and historic preservationists viewed the Ambassador during a tour of historic buildings suffering from neglect.
The demolition is expected to cost about $800,000, Redevelopment Commission director Joseph Van Dyk said.
The funding is coming from a federal Community Development Block Grant program, he said.
“We are expecting release of funds this week,” he said.
Once the money is released, the redevelopment commission can bid the job out to demolition contractors. Van Dyk said that process should be completed by late winter or early spring.
Designed by architect William Stern, the 68-unit Ambassador once had the fanciest amenities of its day and it attracted U.S. Steel managers and supervisors as its tenants. Some historical accounts say the Ambassador was one of the last buildings in the city to integrate during the 1960s.
As the city’s economic fortunes declined in the 1970s and white flight escalated, the Ambassador was converted into a low-income housing building.
A lack of maintenance spelled the end for the Ambassador, which finally closed in 1985 when its neglect forced officials to condemn it.