Nat Hyman says he’s ‘villain in my tragedy’ over who will pay to demolish fire-gutted building

Oct. 16--The owner of the fire-gutted building in Allentown being demolished at taxpayer expense says he is being demonized for a rash decision by city elected officials.

Nat Hyman, who owns the building in the 400 block of North Franklin Street through a limited liability company, said he learned Allentown officials decided to demolish the building for $1.25 million via the news media.

Hyman said the city contacted one of his attorneys last Tuesday asking about his intentions for the property. He told the attorney the next day another lawyer would be handling the job, Hyman said.

The Morning Call reported Tuesday that fire officials said the building would be torn down in a story in which Hyman was quoted about his dashed plans for the four-story structure.

"I never was contacted by the city" about the contract, he said Monday. "No one discussed the $1.25 million price tag with me."

Allentown Communications Manager Mike Moore on Monday issued the following statement in response.

"The site is a public safety issue that had to be addressed. The city fire department needed safe access to extinguish the fire, so what was left of the building had to come down. Empire Services of Reading has the equipment and the experience of tearing down a building after a deadly fire in York last March. The smoke stack on the property is 105 feet above the ground and the hazard zone for tearing down the building is 1-and-a-half-times the height."

"The city reached out to Mr. Hyman by phone and contacted his attorney in the days immediately after the fire, but heard nothing about his plans to remedy the danger at the site."

No one contacted him by phone or email, Hyman said, accusing Mayor Ray O'Connell of trying to make him look bad before the mayoral primary next year. Hyman, who narrowly lost the mayoral race to Ed Pawlowski in 2017, called himself "the one candidate" who could beat O'Connell in 2019.

He also questioned why the demolition work had to occur so soon after the fire, noting that crews were not working on the gutted building over the weekend or at nights.

"Clearly," he said, "its demolition is not that urgent."

The statement referring to the York fire was noteworthy because the deaths of two firefighters occurred when the building collapsed, not as a result of smoke or fire.

As for Hyman's charge that O'Connell's motives were political, the mayor said: "This is a public safety issue. It has nothing to do with politics or the 2019 mayoral election."

Hyman said he is speaking out now because he believes he is being portrayed as "public enemy No. 1."

"I never would have believed I would become the villain in my tragedy," he said.

Hyman said he was collecting bids from contractors last week when O'Connell and City Council agreed to raze the building, which caught fire Oct. 7. O'Connell and council vowed to recoup the cost of demolition.

Hyman said he was prepared to pick up the market-rate cost of demolition himself. He calculated the job would cost roughly $200,000, saying demolition costs around $4 to $6 per square foot. But with the floors collapsed from the blaze, he said demolition would be even less.

"Do I think the taxpayers should be paying this?" he asked. "Absolutely not. I always assumed I would be paying for it."

PHOTO GALLERY: Emergency crews fought a two-alarm fire at a warehouse in the 400 block of North 15th Street in Allentown on Saturday evening, May 5, 2018.

(RICH ROLEN / SPECIAL TO THE MORNING CALL)

The $1.25 million contract the city signed, he said, is "an exorbitant, outrageous waste of taxpayer dollars. ... I am not going to pay for someone else's stupidity."

Lehigh County assessed the building at $191,100, records show. The building was not insured, Hyman said, because the cost of insurance on a vacant building -- considering the risks such as fires -- is prohibitive. He added that he couldn't get insurance above the value of the property.

Hyman said he lost $1 million in the fire, which destroyed the building he was planning to convert to apartments.

Hyman has said he plans to speak to council at its Wednesday meeting about the situation.

A "pretty extensive" flare-up of the fire occurred at the site Sunday night, said Leonard Lightner, Allentown director of community and economic development. Firefighters will remain on the scene for some time, he said.

Meanwhile, work crews are taking down the smokestack by hand until it is safe to bring in heavy equipment, Lightner said, adding that the smokestack demolition would take four days. Barring the unexpected, the rest of the demolition should take another four or five days, he said.

A second building owned by Hyman also caught fire Sunday evening.

The small fire damaged the wooden floor of a vacant building at 361 Gordon St. on Sunday night, Allentown Capt. John Christopher said.

The 10 p.m. fire caused little damage on the second floor and was quickly extinguished, he said.

Christopher said the fire is still under investigation, and at this point is not considered suspicious.

He said the investigation into the cause of the fire at 418 Franklin St. has not been completed.

Morning Call reporter Manuel Gamiz Jr. contributed to this report.

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