The old Warren Players Club on Water Street is still in private hands.

But the Warren Redevelopment Authority discussed what – unfortunately – would likely need done in the event the city was able to secure title to the property.

Director of Codes and Planning Randy Rossey said he expressed to the other the RDA’s desire to have the structure boarded up and secured.

The RDA approved a motion to ask city crews to secure the property. A lien for the cost of that will be attached to the property.

“The Codes Department will be moving forward with some of the violations that have accumulated for the maintenance of the property,” Rossey said. “Perhaps that will get his attention.”

Discussion then shifted to what it would cost to demolish the structure.

Demolition estimates presented yesterday were in the area of $80,000 to in excess of $100,000.

“The ceilings are coming down,” Scott Taylor, the city’s zoning and ordinance official, said. “We couldn’t get into the basement.”

He told the RDA that the owner’s plan was to set up apartments or a bed and breakfast in the space.

“Personally, I think he finally found the building was in worse shape than he anticipated and a lot fuller than he had believed,” he added, telling the RDA the difference between demolishing this structure and the East Street School is that the “school was empty. The Players Club is full.”

City Manager Mike Holtz said that the city would need to find a funding source and have discussed the possibility of whether federal Community Development Block Grant dollars could be used.

“It’s a tough nut to crack, certainly,” he said. “It’s a shame. It’s such a signature building.”