{"id":15736,"date":"2021-03-24T01:51:20","date_gmt":"2021-03-24T01:51:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=15736"},"modified":"2021-03-24T20:20:52","modified_gmt":"2021-03-24T20:20:52","slug":"historic-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2021\/03\/24\/historic-loss\/","title":{"rendered":"Total Loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

1 neighborhood, 1 building demolished, 1 building razed, 1 ATF investigation<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

By Eric Valentine<\/em><\/p>\n

B<\/span>uilt just in 1982, the now razed-by-fire Croy Street Exchange building wasn\u2019t on any national or local registry, but it served as a landmark fitting into the historic character of old town Hailey for four decades. Nothing could be saved by firefighters who fought the blaze valiantly, but they did manage to protect the rest of the block from burning to the ground. <\/span><\/p>\n

Built in the mid-1930s, the old U.S. Forest Service warehouse just down the street from the Exchange was protected by the city, to a degree. But parking needs next door, lead paint in the structure, and failed efforts to move it to a new site led to its demise. Last Monday, crews demolished it, but not before the Public Works Department was able to preserve the building\u2019s unique doors, well known for their green asterisk-shaped moldings on plain white wood backdrop. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Fire crews examine the remains of the Croy Street Exchange Building in Hailey. Photo credit: Sarah Parker-Urbany<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In just one week, across just one block, Valley residents got a taste for just how fragile an area\u2019s history can be. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy heart is broken because the intent was really promising,\u201d Hailey Mayor Martha Burke said regarding the Croy Street Exchange Building and ownership\u2019s plans to convert it into workforce housing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Last year, several tenants had been occupying the building co-owned by District 26 Senator Michelle Stennett, but in a letter dated Dec. 31, tenants were instructed to vacate by Jan. 30. It wasn\u2019t warmly received by some tenants, but the City of Hailey seemed likely to be on board given the dearth of housing that\u2019s affordable for the working class. Planning & Zoning was slated to review the latest designs next month. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully, there\u2019s another new opportunity there for housing,\u201d Burke said. <\/span><\/p>\n

Stennett was asked about any future plans for the property, but did not return phone calls or emails before press deadline Tuesday. <\/span><\/p>\n

As for the Forest Service buildings, Burke had similar sentiment.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we first moved here in \u201973, \u201974, that was the center of town. I used to tell my kids Smokey the Bear lives there,\u201d Burke said. \u201cI loved that complex, the huge evergreens. It\u2019s a tragedy any time we can\u2019t reuse or repurpose today. It\u2019s the right thing for history, it\u2019s the right thing for the environment.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Burke said she was hopeful that the other Forest Service buildings on the complex would never meet the same fate of the larger warehouse structure that fell last week.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re not the prettiest buildings right now, but they have a history worth keeping,\u201d Burke said. <\/span><\/p>\n

What the ATF?<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

State Fire Marshal Knute Sandahl confirmed Monday that he has brought in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to support the investigation on the Croy\u00a0 <\/span>Street Exchange fire. Lesser-known fact alert: the ATF is officially the ATFE\u2014the E stands for explosives. <\/span><\/p>\n

Sandahl did not say whether there was any suspicion of an explosive device and that details were still actively being investigated.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re following up with a couple of leads now,\u201d Sandahl said in regards to the investigation overall.<\/span><\/p>\n

He added that it\u2019s not uncommon to call in the ATF since they have certified fire investigators. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we saw the size and the scope of the fire we knew we\u2019d need support,\u201d Sandahl said. \u201cAn investigation like that can be quite taxing to local fire departments and law enforcement. Additional resources are part of what the ATF provides.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Sandahl could not provide a timeline for when the investigation may be wrapped up. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been telling people we\u2019re working fast, but if we\u2019re done in two weeks, I\u2019d be very surprised,\u201d Sandahl said.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 neighborhood, 1 building demolished, 1 building razed, 1 ATF investigation By Eric Valentine Built just in 1982, the now razed-by-fire Croy Street Exchange building wasn\u2019t on any national or local registry, but it served as a landmark fitting into the historic character of old town Hailey for four decades. Nothing could be saved by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":15739,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[76,78,85,18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-15736","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-emergency-services","8":"category-hailey","9":"category-investigative","10":"category-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15736"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15736\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15798,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15736\/revisions\/15798"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}