Crews start demolition process on Walton, New buildings

BECKLEY, WV (WOAY) – Crews work to demolish two Main Street buildings after a roof collapse earlier this summer.

The collapse shut down main street for several weeks. The street is blocked by fencing as crews work to take down the rest of the building. Once the lots are cleared, the future of the site is unknown.

“Both the Walton building and the New building will come down and neither building owner, at this point, has any plans to rebuild,” said Mayor Rob Rappold.

Rappold says the city is open to working with the owners to do something with the site to make sure there isn’t a second “Beckley Hole” situation.

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Kassie Simmons joined the team in January 2019 as a weekend journalist. She graduated from Virginia Tech in just two and a half years with a BA in multimedia journalism. During her short time at Virginia Tech, she served as the editor for the university’s chapter of The Tab. Kassie was named the top reporter for The Tab at Virginia Tech on multiple occasions and made the list for the top 30 reporters for The Tab in the U.S. She also studied theater performance and minored in creative writing. Before coming to WOAY, Kassie interned at WSLS in Roanoke and the Tidewater Review in her hometown of West Point, Va. She has loved following breaking news since her childhood and has a passion for delivering the stories people care most about. Kassie is excited to be working in Southern West Virginia and looks forward to all the adventures ahead of her. You can follow her on Twitter at @KassieLSimmons and like her page on Facebook. If you have a story you think she should check out, send her an email at ksimmons@woay.com.