A downtown building that had once symbolized Nebraska City’s prestigious retail district was declared unsafe Monday and may be heading for demolition.

The building at 807 Central Ave. was most recently a pet store that never opened for business, but it had been part of a downtown boon that followed World War II.

Gerald Livingston, a former owner of the building, went to work as a shoe salesman when he returned from the war. He and his wife, Genevieve, opened Livingston’s Department Store in 1954 and moved the store to 807 Central Ave. in 1970.

It had formerly been a Woolworth’s Department Store, but they moved up the street. To re-open in competition with the likes of Woolworth’s and JC Penney’s, Livingston had to completely remodel and modernize the building.

About two years later, a fire in the Christmas season destroyed the building to the west that had housed Rowe’s Clothier. Livingston’s sustained so much smoke damage that it took months to bring in new merchandise and re-open.

At Monday’s city council meeting, Building Inspector Alan Viox said the building is running out of second chances.

“The commercial building is in overall need of repair. The roof has been leaking, which allowed moisture to enter the building and is causing structural damage to the second story roof and second story floor,” he said.

“A portion of the second story floor has collapsed onto the first floor of the structure,” he said.

Viox said mold has developed in the basement and first floor and the “wet, damp, musty smell has been migrating to adjacent buildings.”

The Livingston’s daughter, Janet Hemphill, said the building was just a shell with a few ceiling fans for cooling and a barn-board wood floor when Woolworth’s left.

When its transformation was complete, however, it had a clothing department in back and shoes up front. The men’s department had an artificial fireplace and a juniors department was eventually added in the basement.

She said at one time the building represented the whole face of main street. “It’s a shame that it fell into such disrepair,” she said.

She said building landlords seemed to lose interest in the downtown.

“They wouldn’t lower their rents,” she said of building owners for stores like Livingstons and JC Penney’s.

“It went from a really, really pretty downtown to one that couldn’t quite make it and a lot of it had to do with the building owners not being willing to work with the people to do what they needed to do,” she said.

The building’s current owner, Farzad Rahmani told city commissioners that he bought the building for $15,000 hoping to turn it into a unique shop that featured imported Persian rugs. “I didn’t know its condition was this poor,” he said.

He said he does not expect to have the funds that will be needed to bring the building up to standards and said the cost to demolish the building would probably be no less than $64,000.

“The building is in terrible shape and I have no power to do anything about it,” he said.

Mayor Jo Dee Adelung asked City Attorney Bill Davis if Rahmani could give the building to the city for demoliton, rather than the city going through the condemnation process and then putting a lien on the remaining property for the cost of demolition.

Rahmani said it would be too much of a loss for him to give the building to the city, but Davis said it could end up costing him more if the city demolishes the building.

Rahmani said he might sell the building for $10,000. Street Commissioner Dean Handy said the city is not interested in that. “It has to come down, that’s all there is to it,” he said. “We’re not anxious to spend $64,000 to tear it down, but there’s no way we can pay for that building. It’s a total liability,” Handy said.

The city issued a building permit for a pet shop in the building in 2002, but authorities later raided the structure and removed over 200 birds and other animals.

At that time, the Nebraska City News-Press reported that the building had no electricity or water and that holes in the roof were so large you could see daylight. Published photographs showed holes in the floorboard leading to the basement and a collapsed ceiling. The building changed hands two more times before Rahmani bought it.