Taxpayers in St. Joseph will foot the bill for demolition of an old downtown building. Ironically, some of the money will come from a grant fund intended to help owners of historic buildings repair them.

On Tuesday, the City Council voted to approve spending about $390,000 to demolish the Carpet Mill building at Fourth and Angelique.

Officials say they’ve been trying for get the owner of the building to make repairs for quite some time. Last Summer the building sustained storm damage that made saving the building impossible. Demolition got underway a few weeks ago, but was delayed by utility and hazardous-materials issues. Recent winter weather pushed back the demo until at least next month.

According to City Manager Bruce Woody, after the owner failied to cooperate, the city decided to take care of the costs and then place a lien on the property.

The money will come from the city’s general fund, as well as the gaming initiatives fund and a block grant fund. The gaming initiatives fund supports the Save Our Heritage grant program, an effort to help building owners make repairs to historic buildings.