A landmark in downtown Albany for decades collapsed overnight. City Administrator Derek Brown tells us the building is about a block north of the town square.

There was no one inside the structure when it fell down at about 12:30 a.m. Thursday. There were no injuries.

Brown didn’t know exactly how old the building was, but speculated it was in the 100-year range.

 

 

“It formerly been a cafe, and was truly an iconic building for that matter,” Brown said in an interview. “For decades it had been kind of the cafe downtown.”

“Nobody was home. Nobody was hurt. Basically, overnight we spent the time getting all the utilities disconnected and away from the building, and getting the area roped off to keep people out of there. This morning we spent a little time trying to evaluate the integrity of the buildings adjacent to it, and at this point we’re still keeping everybody out of the two adjacent buildings.”

Brown says they are calling in a structural engineer to help evaluate the safety of the beauty shop and flower shop next door.