One of Newark's oldest building coming down

The Newark Newsstand is currently being demolished after being declared unsafe by the city, according to Newark Planning and Development Director Maureen Feeney-Roser.

Bachu Patel, the property owner, was doing some renovations in the building and a miscommunication with the city led him to believe he could do certain renovations to the building, such as taking down support walls, Feeney-Roser said. As this work was executed without a permit and led to the building being unsafe, it was condemned by the city and Patel will have to rebuild a new structure from the ground, Roser said.

“As the work was done without a permit the owner will have to pay a penalty when applying for a building permit,” Roser said.

Roser said Patel did not realize he was doing something wrong and this demolition was just a miscommunication between him and the city.

Patel said he originally planned to renovate the store and built apartments on top of it. However, after taking everything out of the store, Patel’s architect advised him to demolish the building and build a new one as the walls of the old newsstand were not strong enough to support eventual apartments on the second floor.

“I then applied for a demolition permit, and once we had the permit we started doing the work,” Patel said. “The building should be down by next weekend.”

Patel said there was a miscommunication between him and the city inspector approved all the work he was doing and all the renovations the building was undergoing. After taking some dry wall out Patel discovered some cracks in the ceiling, some old and some created by the renovations, and the building was declared unsafe.

Sandi Patterson, owner of Clothes in the Past Lane, said this complete demolition of the building does not change her plan to relocate her store to the newsstand site, on 70 E. Main St. She said she will hopefully be able to relocate her store by June when the construction will be over.

 “Actually it is better that this happened, although it messes with the timeline a little,” Patterson said. “Mr. Patel feels he will be able to do things better this way.”

Patterson said her new store, “Shoppes at the Newsstand” will be half a clothing store and half a blow dry bar owned by the hair and makeup salon Gloss.  The blow dry bar will offer makeup and blow dries but will not provide haircuts and shampoos. Patterson’s new store will change from its vintage look to reflect a 50’s and 60’s style.