Work happening at Pullman building
Motorists on Hansen Avenue might have noticed work going on at the former Pullman Standard office building, but there is no word as to plans for the deteriorating structure.
John Evans, building code official for the city of Butler, said Sumner McDanel, the building’s owner, has not applied to the city for any permits as of Thursday, March 23.
He said not all work at the building requires a permit, as cleanup and various other work is allowed.
The once-grand office building, which held the corporate offices for Pullman-Standard’s railroad car manufacturing, has been vacant since the mid-1980s.
Evans said he has been in talks with McDanel for years regarding a use for the decaying building, which county tax records show was purchased by McDanel’s corporation, Achieve Real Estate Co., in 2007 for $420,000.
The building was last in the news in 2016, when the state Housing Finance Agency declined to offer a grant to a developer hired by McDanel to turn the building into senior housing.
McDanel could not be reached by telephone for comment on the work being undertaken at the property.
The building was erected in 1910 to house the offices of the Standard Steel Car Company, according the Butler County Historical Society website.
