Downtown Pontiac Building Partially Collapses

By A.J. Harris

A piece of downtown Pontiac’s history will likely be torn down after a scary incident over the weekend.

A floor of the old Daily Leader office building collapsed sometime Friday which appeared to break a gas line, the Pontiac Daily Leader reports.

The building, located at 318 N. Main Street, has been in disrepair for some time now, and has been used as a warehouse for the Leader since the press offices moved to the building to the north. The building is decorated with a mural commemorating Rodino Square.

The call for a gas leak was made around 10:20 Friday night as the odor of gas was strong and apparent in the downtown area.

After identifying the old Leader building as the source, Nicor shut off the gas lines to several businesses in the downtown area just in case the building collapsed entirely.

City Building and Zoning directors Dave Lopeman and Dave Wilson have since inspected the site and have condemned the two-story leader building.