POSTED: 4:43 pm EDT September 14, 2004
KISSIMMEE, Fla. -- A piece of downtown Kissimmee is on the verge of crumbling into the street. City leaders and a business owner are scrambling to save a hotel that has been unsafe since Charley, and the situation keeps getting worse.
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It seems like everyday since Charley passed through Kissimmee, the Columbia Hotel has been falling apart. Brick by brick, the building has been falling to the sidewalk below. Now city officials are afraid it's not long before the whole thing comes crashing down.
Friday the 13th of August was the last night the Columbia housed guests. The historic hotel, sandwiched between other downtown businesses, is slowly and dangerously crumbling.
"I think it's very dangerous. You see the bricks falling out, and the glass is falling out. Any kind of wind or anything, you don't know what else is liable to fall out," says Marve Haven, who cuts hair just a wall away from the Columbia.
The barrier between them is cracking like a spider's web, windows burst as the structure buckles. The 80-year-old building is so dangerous that the street in front is blocked off and pedestrians are warned to keep away.
City officials are at odds over what to do. The old hotel is part of the downtown character of Kissimmee. They're afraid of losing another historical building, like the theater down the street that crumbled before Charley even left town.
As much as residents would like to keep the Columbia, many are afraid it's too dangerous and its demise is just a choice between man and Mother Nature at this point.
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This is my opinion.. I'm all for history.. But a lot of these buildings are looking more like eyesores instead of historic.. Maybe the need to come down
