Board delays decision on 1839 structure at 156 Avenida Menendez / 59 Marine after engineers differ; asks for salvage plan and structural clarifications

The Historic Architecture Review Board on May 19 continued the high‑profile demolition request for the property listed as 156 Avenida Menendez / 59 Marine Street (HP2025-0041), which contains an historic core reportedly dating to about 1839. Owner/applicant John Valdez and his team told the board that extensive termite damage, repeated ill‑executed repairs and partial earlier additions have left little of the original structure suitable for preservation. The applicant’s contractor described extensive framing loss and said lifting the structure for refoundation would be unsafe without major reconstruction.

Staff distributed two condition assessments: a Coastal Engineering report submitted by the applicant recommending demolition and an independent condition assessment by Jude Kostich (Atlantic Engineering) requested by staff. Kostich’s report concluded the structure is in poor condition and would not survive a storm event without significant additional shoring; he wrote that, given the extent of required reframing and new foundations, “little of the original structure will remain after the repairs are complete.” Board members relied on Kostich’s observations and on detailed photographs of partial demolition to question whether a feasible rehabilitation path remains.

Board members and members of the public described the property as a layered historic resource (territorial-era core with later nineteenth- and twentieth-century additions) with tangible local significance; several members urged maximizing salvage and documentation. The board directed the applicant to return with: - a demolition plan that clearly identifies which structural elements will be removed and which will be salvaged or retained; - an itemized salvage inventory (sash, millwork, wainscoting, brick/piers) and a plan for how salvaged materials will be reused in the new construction; - an updated, detailed structural assessment and stabilization strategy and a plan showing how any rehabilitation would be staged safely in the field during hurricane season; and - revised designs, if the owner seeks to reconstruct a historically compatible building, showing the proposed replacement and how salvaged material will be integrated.

The board voted to continue HP2025-0041 to June 18 and asked staff to arrange for Jude Kostich to attend that meeting and speak to the board’s questions about salvageable fabric and on‑site stabilization measures.

Why it matters: The building was called out in staff materials as a surviving example of a territorial-period structure within the city; the discussion highlights tensions between preserving rare, vulnerable historic fabric and the practical limits of structural stability and safety.

What’s next: The applicant was continued to June 18, 2025. The board specifically asked that Kostich be present and that the applicant submit a salvage inventory, a demolition plan and a clearer structural stabilization narrative before the packet deadline.