The former Brick House on Liberty Street has been declared blighted.

The City of Warren Blighted Property Review Committee made the declaration against 219 Liberty St. during Thursday’s meeting. Code Official Jessica Bee told the committee the property has been unoccupied for about 10 years.

She said she’s only been in the rear addition but observed some “severe structural damage” and said the “exterior and interior of the structure is in very poor condition,” so much so that the city back in 2014 made emergency repairs to the facade.

In December 2020, part of the roof toward the rear of the building collapsed, leaving a hole in the roof.

She said the building “continues to deteriorate” and that the owner, a LLC, has informed the city they won’t be doing anything. She said she considers the property abandoned.

There aren’t liens or anything on the property because the current owner bought it out of a past judicial sale. It was up for judicial sale again on Wednesday but did not sell.

Bee said the city has applied for state grant funding to “at least” make the building warm, safe and dry. “There is a long history of property maintenance issues,” she added.

“I have no doubt that this property meets the criteria for blight,” Committee Chair Ray Pring said.

Department of Public Works Director Mike Holtz called the “end game” a “tough nut to crack in this case.”

He noted repair, and demolition, will both cost money.

“(We) don’t want a hole in the street either,” he said. “It’s one of the more difficult ones in the city.”

Pring asked if there was any reason not to proceed.

“I don’t believe so,” Committee member Denise Whipp said. “(The) faster the process gets taken care of the better for the sake of the neighbors. It’s getting worse.”

Vince DeJoy, the city’s planner, said a developer of an adjacent building may have interest. He called it the “prudent course to declare it blighted.

“This is a building with structural issues. (There) could be a little bit more urgency if you declare it blighted. I see no reason why you shouldn’t proceed.”

“This building,” Pring said, “is a poster child for why this (blighted) process was created.”

“To physically do something is something else,” Holtz cautioned.

The property will be back before the committee for a potential second declaration of blight in July after notice and appeal issues are satisfied.

The committee also passed a first declaration of blight against the property at 58 Locust St.

Bee explained the property had been tied up in a land contract and that a neighbor has reported feral cats living in the structure, killing birds and squirrels in the neighborhood and then dragging them back in the house.