Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 16, 1993                   TAG: 9306160102
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

PART OF BUILDING FALLS; MAN HURT TRYING TO FLEE

The two-story structure near the intersection of First Street and Gilmer Avenue had been vacant for nearly five years. Tuesday, its roof caved in, taking two second-story walls with it and littering streets with bricks, glass and debris.

Witnesses said they heard a loud noise about 11:30 a.m., followed by a shower of bricks falling to the ground.

"It sounded just like a bomb exploded," said Kathleen Ross, an employee at the Southwest Virginia Community Development Fund office, located next door to the collapsed building. "When I looked outside, bricks were flying everywhere."

The Rev. Victor Hopkins said he was driving toward the building when he heard a cracking noise. He said he then saw bricks and dust fall around a man who was running from his car.

"I was afraid, seeing bricks falling like that," Hopkins said. "I'm glad he didn't get killed."

Ralph Claytor told Roanoke police he was about to get in his car, parked next to the building, when he heard a noise. He looked up to see the wall directly above him fall.

Claytor ran to the other side of the street but was struck by falling bricks and debris, he told police. He was taken to Roanoke Memorial Hospital, where he was treated and released three hours later.

Claytor's car was flattened.

"He was very fortunate," said Walter Claytor, a Roanoke dentist who shares space with his brother Ralph, an accountant, in an office building across the street from the fallen structure.

Walter Claytor said he was leaving the office for lunch when the building collapsed. He did not realize his brother had gotten caught in the rubble until he walked outside and saw him lying at the curb.

Walter Claytor was angry.

"If you had renters, the place would be occupied; the roof would be fixed," he said, tossing bricks off the sidewalk in front of his office building. "You take away the renters, you take away the money. There are no funds to keep it up.

"It's a result of urban renewal. When you run people out, you run money out. And the neighborhood goes south."

The building is in the heart of historic Gainsboro, once a thriving commercial district. The city plans to put two four-lane highways through the middle of it.

Ron Miller, Roanoke's building commissioner, said records on the structure date back to a 1950 building permit. A permit to board up the building was granted in 1988, he said.

The building once housed an insurance agency and a real estate agency, Kathleen Ross said. It later served as offices for a construction/carpentry business.

The building's current owner is Wayne Ayers, a Salem resident who operates a private contracting business called Liberty Investment Corp.

Ayers could not be reached for comment Tuesday. But his son, Gregg, said he had been contacted by Miller about the building's collapse and an order for emergency demolition.

"We're in the process of making sure everything - gas and power - is cut off for the demolition process," Ayers said. "We're working to set something up as soon as possible."

"We're theorizing it may have gotten damaged when the storm came the other day [June 4]," Miller said. "There may have been a weak link in the roof system that pulled it down when it gave way."

Owners of vacant buildings are required to maintain their safety and security, Miller said. There was no indication that Wayne Ayers had not done so, Miller said.

A portion of First Street and Gainsboro Road will remain barricaded until demolition is completed.